DOCTOR WHO Series 7 - The Story So Far...

Scanners indicate a high level of spoilers

So then, at long last Doctor Who has returned to our screen and the 50th anniversary is well under way. However before we have a look at the opening episode of the second half of Series 7, let's take a spoilery look back at what has come before...

First up, while some fans have up in arms about the new split season format, I'd have to say that personally I've liked the scheduling of Series 7. To begin with we got Who back on the screen in the darker autumn nights - Doctor Who is best enjoyed I think when it's not blazing sunshine outside - and then it was a fairly short wait for our next fix with the feature length Christmas special. Of course, then it was only a short hop in the calendar until The Bells of St John. All in all, a rather more preferable arrangement to getting a thirteen week dollop of the show and then the best part of a year before the TARDIS opens its doors for business again. 

But of course all of this does mean that the rest of this year is going to be somewhat Who lite, albeit with the big anniversary special slated  for the autumn. However I'll be happy enough if Series 8 repeats the split season pattern of two halves in spring and autumn, giving regular fixes through out the year. 

And what did the opening half of Series 7 actually deliver? Well, it promised a blockbuster every week and indeed it largely made good on that promise, serving up a fun set of pretty much stand-alone adventures. Admittedly there was some connective tissue between the stories focusing on Amy and Rory's relationship and setting up their departure, but it was more a running theme than a true story arc. Some said it was all too light weight and bitty, but then again folks had said that Series 6 was too dark and too much of an integrated story arc, so you pays yer money and takes yer choice. 

The show's great strength is its flexible format and obviously not everything they do is going to please everyone. But the important thing is, while the internet foams at its collective mouth and endless bickers over the fine details, it's a good thing the show is evolving and changing. And despite the often bitter arguments boiling away in fandom, viewing figures and audience appreciation scores remain solid, which sharply high-lights the difference in the way fans and ordinary viewers watch the show I feel... And I plan to examine this in more detail with a State Of The Show Address at some point nearer the anniversary. 

So then, let's have a quick run through the episodes, throwing in some spoilery remarks absent from my original reviews and a reassessment with the benefit of hindsight. First mentions of the title will have links to said original reviews. All set? Good, let's go then...

The series opened with a bang with Asylum of the Daleks. Now generally you can't do wrong with the Daleks... yes, even when they are in Manhattan! Basically even if the story is bobbins, there's just a rock solid level of fun from seeing the genocidal pepperpots misbehaving! Now this particular offering wasn't the great outing for Skaro's finest but it did give us an interesting look into their organisation and the concept of there being Daleks who are too far gone even for the Daleks is a fascinating one. 

However like many old time fans, I was a little disappointed with the episode - chiefly because it was trumpeted that it would feature every model of Dalek ever seen. And indeed, it did alongside some nice references to their past appearances. However the trouble was, it was a case of blink and you'll miss them. Now I appreciate that this would be largely because the old models wheeled out of storage, museums and private collections would look horribly tatty in HD and hence their screen time was kept to a bare minimum  But it still felt like a bit of swizz!

But that disappointment was more than balanced out by the coup pulled off by the Doctor Who team - namely managing to keep quiet the fact that this episode gave us our first appearance of new companion to be Jenna-Louise Coleman. I don't know how they stopped the news leaking in this day and age of internet  chatter, but it was a delightful miracle! And what's more, it left us with many questions as to how Oswin who had been converted into a Dalek was going to join the Doctor on future travels. Intriguing stuff indeed! 

There was also another revelation at the end of the episode too - that now thanks to Oswin's hacking of their collective databases, the hordes of Skaro had now completely forgotten who the Doctor was. Obviously this  is a huge change to the mythos, and one some fans may well feel is vandalism. And in truth, I had mixed feelings about it - the Daleks not knowing their arch enemy any more? Surely a terrible idea! 

But one reflection, two things occurred to me. Firstly, as we have observed, Doctor Who is always a-changing and I seriously doubt that the Daleks won't very quickly identify the Doctor as a major threat once more. More importantly though, it winds down the Doctor again from the Lonely God Everyone-knows-me-and-I-can-anything figure the Davies years had built him up too. And that in my book is a good thing, scaling our favorite Time Lord back down to the anonymous eccentric who turned up at various points in space and time and quietly sorted things out. 

And it's a good thing for the Daleks too. The new series stories featuring the deadly dustbins have revolved around the Time War and Getting The Doctor very heavily. While the Time War served well to re-establish the history of the Doctor and the Daleks, it is now time to move on and I for one welcome the opportunity to go back to more old school stories where the Doctor turns up and throws spanners in the works of their latest campaign for dominating the universe. 

Moving on to Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, well, it does what is says on the tin! Still great fun to watch - star studded cast, right amount and right type of humour (reminiscent of Douglas Adams), just solidly entertaining.  It might be fluff but who cares, it's great fluff! Plus bonus points awarded for a nice touch of making the titular spaceship and dinos part of a Silurian ark in space - another nice nod to both old Who and Adams there. Furthermore, and racking up more bonus points, this episode introduced us to the amazing Brian Pond, Rory's dotty dad, played with aplomb by comedy veteran Mark Williams. All highly entertaining and for my money the best rendition of the blockbuster every week concept this half series delivers. 

I don't have too much more to add to my initial thoughts on A Town Called Mercy except that it remains a solid little episode with a good moral dilemma at its heart. Although I will say it'd be nice to see the Doctor and co. visit Earth's past a little more often. So then, moving swiftly on to The Power of Three... 

...Well, actually again, not masses to add to the original review. But what I can mention now with the spoiler embargo lifted is that  it was lovely meet another new character Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) who turned out to be the daughter of the Doctor's old friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who has followed in her father's footsteps and become the head of U.N.I.T. It was also pleasing to hear the Zygons name-checked, and more so now we know that this wasn't just a reference of the old fans but foreshadowing their return later this year. 

However The Power of Three, although filled with some nice little moments and more Brian Pond magic, is still the slightest of the five episodes. But also it's the episode that now feels weaker on rewatching, mainly because of what transpires in The Angels Take Manhattan, and it's this final episode I have the most problems with. 

Now the half-series finale isn't a bad episode per se - it's nicely creepy, with some fun time twisting and a dramatic finale which sees the Ponds stranded in the past. And while it was a good resolution of their sometime strained relationship, with Amy (rightly) chooses to be with Rory in the New York of yesteryear, after some reflection it has started to trouble me. 

Now I'm not talking about nit-picking the mechanics of why the Doctor can't just pop back to a slightly later or earlier year and pick them up (although I would say that that was a logical loop hole that a single line could have fixed - namely that the Doctor can't cross Amy and Rory's time lines again with unraveling history). Nor am I carping about the feasibility of the Statue of Liberty going walkabout - , it was a visual gag, nothing more, let it go! 

No, my problem is that although it played out nicely, the end of the Ponds' story just wasn't the right one in my humble opinion. After The Power of Three, I think it would have been more satisfying for the Ponds to decide to give up travelling with the Doctor rather than being forcibly separated. The episode could have played out the same right until the very end where I feel it would have better a more fitting conclusion that Amy and Rory after a very close shave decide the risks of carrying on travelling in the TARDIS were too great and as we saw in The Power of Three, they would be happier with a quiet life. 

And what's the Doctor going to say to poor Brian eh? 

The more I think about it, the more I feel the trapped in time twist at the end was an unnecessary bit of tragedy. Now I know there was a foreshadowing of something bad happening to the Ponds through these five episodes but it would have been more satisfying if that had turned out to be them deciding to leave the Doctor. And he could have still gone off to mope in Victorian London... 

Which brings us neatly to the Christmas special, The Snowmen which I didn't get around to writing a review of. Now partly that was due to having something of a bumpy festive season, the details of which I shall spare you, but also it was because I felt in danger of turning out a very similar review to the previous ones I have done for preceding Christmas specials. 

You see the thing about the annual Christmas Day episodes of Doctor Who is that they are designed to be seen through a haze of sugar, booze and seasonal cheer. And being so, they tend only to make sense when watched in that festive fugue on Christmas Day night - an enjoyable romp full of daftness, sentiment and Yuletide tropes. Generally I'd say they provide good Christmas night viewing but aren't usually very good Doctor Who in the strictest sense. And The Snowmen fits this pattern to a tee - it's a lot of fun but will come across as loosely plotted and too full of silliness if you are watching at any time other than Christmas night. 

But that said, this year's Christmas special did seem to be closer to 'proper' Doctor Who than previous Yuletide outings, as apart from the general Dickensian atmosphere, it wasn't playing around with Christmas themed stories has previous years had. And there were other factors in play too - firstly it turned out the intelligent snow was actually an old enemy from the Second Doctor's time, The Great Intelligence, making this story effectively a prequel to The Abominable Snowmen and The Web Of Fear. Secondly, we had some more recent familiar faces appear with Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax filling out the supporting cast. 

Finally and most importantly, we had the return of Jenna-Louise Coleman, this time as a seemingly different character, the governess Clara. Or rather she's the same character but in a different point of space and time... most mysterious! And that mystery is undoubted going to form the story spine for the rest of the series. Hence rather than being just an interlude between seasons - as the Christmas special usually is - The Snowmen was effectively the beginning of what I'm thinking of as Series 7B.

For I think it's fair to say that this series is really probably going to pan out as two mini series, with Series 7A being the last of the Ponds, and from The Snowmen until the thirteenth episode, or even possibly even up to the 50th anniversary special, forming Series 7B. Of course, I am  now playing that most dangerous game of second guessing Moffat - and coming episodes may well draw on or call back the first five episodes and unite the halves... But we'll worry about that later!

However having seen The Bells of St. John, the Christmas special looks now even more less stand alone... But more about that very very soon!

DOCTOR WHO 7.05 - The Angels Take Manhattan

Scanners indicate an absence of spoilers

So then, here we are at the mid-series finale, or rather the the mini-season climax as I think of it. After this, there's no more Doctor Who until Christmas. But what a fine choice of adversary for this final episode! Following in the footsteps of both the Muppets and Jason Voorhees, the most iconic of monsters that new Who has spawned, the Weeping Angels, return for a third momentous outing!  

Now I must confess, in what seems to be a somewhat traditional fashion for this series, the title did give me pause for thought. For this isn't the first time, that the TARDIS crew has visited the Big Apple. However the last time was the less than fondly remembered Daleks in Manhattan. Of course, considering their previous appearances, Blink and The Time of the Angels/Flesh And Stone, some the better adventures the series had delivered since its triumphant return in 2005, I really shouldn't have worried. 

Well, not about that at least...

...What I should have been fretting about is how in the name of Sutek am I going to review this without spoilers! For, of course, this final episode sees showrunner Steven Moffat returning to scripting duties. And as long-time readers know, his episodes always give me a headache reviewing sans spoilers! 

So then what can I tell you? Well, the Angels are on top creepy form as per usual, New York looks fantastic, the performances are great and the scripting is Moffat on good form... And that's it, thank you and goodnight! 

What you want more? Who do you think you are? An extra in Oliver! ?

Oh alright then... but be warned....

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE WHO HAS SUCKED BACK IN TIME BY ANGELS, IMPRISONED ON A PYRAMID ON MARS OR OTHERWISE BEEN OBLIVIOUS OF WHAT IMPORTANT EVENT THIS EPISODE CONTAINS

Still with me? Ok then...

 ...*deep breathe*...

... This episode sees the return of River Song! 

Right that'll teach you to skip ahead, oh impatient one! 

ABSO-FLIPPIN -UTELY LAST SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL THOSE LIVING IN A CAVE WITH THE TRIBE OF GUMM AND HAVEN'T SEEN A SCINTILLA OF WHO NEWS IN THE LAST NINE MONTHS

Right then, no messin' about, in this episode we bid the Ponds a fond farewell. And this departure has been billed by all concerned as 'heart-breaking'. And indeed, judging by the amount 'ahm fine... I jus' got somefink in mah eye...' style twitterings on my time-line, I think it's fair to say that this was no mere hyperbole! 

Of course, the big question is HOW they go and one I won't answer here. However what I will say is that I thought is was a very satisfying departure. It's a very fine, and yes rather touching (look I jus' got somefink in mah eye...), conclusion to the whole of Amy and Rory's story arc. Definite thumbs up (and hanky in the other mitt) from me. 

And I also think it's fair to say, that in that light, it does seem like that this has been a little complete series on its own, rather than a half-season. Furthermore, having got the conclusion, I do think my initial suspicions were correct - namely, that this set of stories are as unconnected as we were lead to believe. 

Now then I know many of you have been missing the spoilerific second reviews I've done for series past of Doctor Who and so therefore I've having a marathon rewatch of this quintet of adventures in the coming week and will deliver a suitably epic, no spoiler left unturned, end of season round-up, and test the above hypothesis... probably to destruction! 

But for now, I'll round this off by saying that this series has been a rather strong run. It may not have been biggest, or best, and it may have been rather light-weight much of the time, but it's certainly been fairly solid, without a single episode I've not enjoyed. The show's been ticking along nicely, and while some may feel it's been idling, I would point out that next year is the big 50th anniversary and I suspect they are saving the really big guns for then...

DOCTOR WHO 7.04 - The Power of Three

Scanners indicate an absence of spoilers

So then, let's get the obvious facetious remark over with first... Why was The Power of Three, the third episode? Come on Mr Moffat, you KNOW how obsessive us SF fans are! Having it as the fourth offends our geeky love of numerical symmetry! You're stirring a wasps nest here! 

However on the plus side, there was plenty in this episode which would delight the long-time Who fan, with a  delicious sprinkling of links and references to older stories and characters. And it's a good mix of allusions and callbacks too with nods and winks for both the classic old school series and the rebooted modern show.   Indeed in some respects, as Mr Danny Davies remarked upon the Twitters last night, this is one of the most RTD-esque stories we've had since the Moff took over. 

So then, we have a story that is about the mysterious appearance of odd little black boxes all over the world, complete with montage shots of said enigmatic cubes dotted around famous landmarks and famous faces  playing themselves as talking heads appearing on various TV broadcasts through the story. Furthermore however, this is an episode more concerned with characters and emotion than delivering big action and timey-wimey plot twists. Hence the so called 'slow invasion' of the little black boxes plot-line was largely just a MacGuffin to set up the real concerns of the story; the exploration of  the relationship between the Ponds and the Doctor.

And all of this works rather well. Yes, it's light and frothy fun for the most part, with Mr Chris Chibnall turning in another entertaining script and a character he introduced in his previous outing this series Dinosaurs On A Spaceship making a welcome return appearance. However while there is fun and games with spaceships, aliens and explosions, this is the same kind of romp as the earlier interplanetary prehistoric malarkey we had a fortnight ago. There's a lot more sentiment but thankfully a tad more humour to keep the story from drifting into the jagged candy coated reefs of sickly sweetness. Hence we have some very nice scenes between Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and Arthur Davril, which range from very funny to rather touching. And the story of the boxes is deftly threaded through the episode too, weaving together neatly the humour and the character work.

Now it would be easy to see this as a throwaway episode; a less expensive bit of running about in between the more blockbustery stories which relies on character and comedy rather than big special effects. It's a nice little story, possibly a little forgettable but there's nothing wrong with that... However I suspect other forces at work here, which may be considered spoilerific! So then...

POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FROZEN ON TELOS, ASLEEP, ON THE NERVA BEACON, OR TRAPPED IN THE SATAN PIT AND HAVE SEEN NO DOCTOR WHO NEWS FOR... OOH... LET'S SAY... THE PAST 18 MONTHS OR SO

Then as previous mentioned in reviews for this series, the Moffat credo for this series of Doctor Who is "a blockbuster every week"... and indeed that phrase is becoming the Bad Wolf of these reviews. However if the first rule of travelling with the Doctor is "the Doctor always lies!", then so too the first rule of watching Steven Moffat-era Who is "Moffat always lies". 

Now I'm not casting cheeky aspersions on the blockbuster quality of this run of episodes, although it's fair to say that The Power of Three has been the least cinematic of the four so far shown. But I am casting doubt on the idea Mr Moffat has been bandying about that there isn't a big story arc to this season. 

And my reason for this? Well, firstly this is a series in two parts - five episodes now, Christmas special, and the rest in 2013. And what's special about 2013 for Doctor Who? Well it's only the 50th anniversary of the show... and can you really see there NOT being a big story to lead up to this momentous birthday? 

Secondly, and more pertinently to The Power of Three, we know that the Ponds are leaving the show during this run. And throughout the episodes show so far there's been a running theme looking at the Doctor and his relationship with his companions, not to mention some subtle hints that our favorite Time Lord suspects, or possibly knows, there is dire danger in the future for Amy and Rory. And considered in this light, this week's episode suddenly doesn't look quite so throwaway after all...

Indeed I may well be wrong, but I rather suspect that the events of this fun and frothy story may take on a greater significance when we understand its place in the overall story arc. And indeed some of the sweetness on display here may well be the last moments of light this trio of characters enjoy...

DOCTOR WHO 6.13 - The Wedding of River Song Spoiler Zone (or Jim'll Fix it)

Shh! Spoilers sweetie!

My giddy aunt! There's been alot of toys chucked from prams over this one hasn't there! So before we get going - and note I speak as a life-long fan, one of whom's earliest memories is seeing the Sea Devils rise from the waves - I'll say this: 

Calm down dear! It's only Doctor Who! 

And to use Mr Danny Davies' wonderful phrase, a good blast from the Perspective Cannon is in order here! Yes, it's time to practise that ancient and noble, yet seemingly dying out, art of getting a frakking grip!

Now then in the interests of full disclosure, let's rewind to last Saturday night. The credits have just begun to roll and as per usual with a Moffat scripted episode, I wonder how the name of Azal am I going to review that with out letting slip the dogs of spoiler. However this time, I have an additional problem because I'm somewhat conflicted on the now infamous resolution, namely that the figure we saw die on the shores of Lake Silencio was not actually the Doctor, but our favourite Time Lord driving a Teselecta.

You see, I'm feeling disappointed as I was expecting the big reveal to be something I hadn't considered, and so there's an aura of 'oh, what that  it?' floating in the air. However I am of certain of two things - firstly that overall I rather enjoyed this episode but secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I really like the position Moffat has left the character pointed in.

While I'm trying to sort out and generally weigh up this mix of different emotions, I notice that the internet is already beginning to flame, with with all manner of folks screaming 'Cheat!' and some even transforming into the Comic Book Guy, and without a shred of irony, shrieking 'Worst. Finale. Evah!'. And this crowd saying  'Boo! Teselecta! Rewind!' also annoys me, and not just for reminding me of Craig Bloody David but for for reasons we'll get to later.

Anyhow, I pen my spoiler-free review basically saying 'fun episode, divisive end I'm not sure about yet' and leave it at that. Then I make another large pot of Earl Grey and sit down to start pondering this business properly...

Mr Jim's reasoning goes like this...

Sip 1 - As soon as they mentioned the Teselecta in the Previously montage, the thought occurred that this was probably how the Doctor was going to cheat to death.

Sip 2 - Though as the episode progressed and built towards the end, I was still wondering whether Moffat was going to the Doctor actually die... Now obviously he has to survive somehow as we know he's coming back for the Christmas special. But I had concocted a dubious theory - I'd read somewhere Moffat had said that this year's Yuletide special would be riffing on another classic Christmas story and as he'd done a Christmas Carol last year, the next obvious choice would be It's A Wonderful Life. And this tale concerns a fellow being taken out of time at the point of his death, I wondered whether Moffat would have something similar in store for the Doctor i.e. the Doctor would die but in the Christmas special a Clarence analogue would restore him to life...

Sip 3 - I quite liked that idea... that would have been brilliant! Stupid Teselecta!

Sip 4 - But it's not a cheat is it? Cheating would be altering how that death scene played out or making it not happen - but it does play out how we first saw it. Admittedly with a Time Crisis occurring within a split second we hadn't seen the first time, but  it IS the same - the difference is that now we know that the event has effectively been mislabelled - the Doctor only appeared to die or rather a decoy Doctor died. The fixed point happened, and the real Doctor was actually present too, but it's only historical archives that have wrongly recorded that he didn't survive.

Dunks biscuit - And of course that was the point - really like the way now the Doctor is set up to have small adventures - no more Lonely God hyperbole and everybody knowing who he is. Yes, back to being a mysterious man in a box. Me likee.

Sip 5 - And he did set it up too! It's perfectly in line with Chekhov's Gun isn't it - he introduced it five episodes ago and 'fired' it in the final act. Plus there was the business with the Gangers as a red herring. Yes, I did rule out the Teselecta as the solution originally (see here) as it wasn't exactly brilliant at mimicking natural behaviour... But I had considered what if a Doctor was driving it... And honestly as for all this blubbing about beginning of a regeneration means it can't have been the Teselecta, Moffat did deliberately shown us this android turning into a Nazi on a motorbike, so obviously some orange fireworks aren't stretching it's abilities very much at all. Especially with the Doctor at the wheel!

Sip 6 - So not a cheat - and it's not a rewind or reset either. During the Time Crisis, there's plenty of dialogue to confirm that all the events of this season have happened - the Silence's taunt to Rory was very cheeky but most explicitly the scene with Amy and Madame Korvarian... And how she deals with Madame, blimey that was COLD! Still in the words of the legendary Adham Fisher 'the bitch had it coming!'  Damn, she looked hot firing that machine gun... Do I have time for... No, moving swiftly on...

Dunks biscuit again - How does Amy not remember the Time Crisis before this episode though? Hmm... No, got it! It's a case of Who's Time-line Is It Anyway. And the defining time-line is the Doctor's naturally. At the start of the season, Amy meets Future Doctor and see his Teselecta gambit play out. What I'm calling the Time Crisis happens, but it's resolved and every one's none the wise. Her Doctor appears and the season unfolds, so then when he enters the Time Crisis the Amy he meets in that alternate world has shared all those adventures. And so Amy can only remember the Time Crisis after it occurred, which for her happens after at some point after The God Complex. More simply put - the Doctor's time-line sets the continuity for every one else as he's the focus of the Time Crisis!

None of that is probably very important... I should get out more... Where was I?

In the kingdom of Inferno, the one eyed Brig is king!

Sip 7 - Oh yes! Speaking of eye drives, very nice tribute to dear of Nick Courtney. I mean, aside from the lovely scene with the Doctor discovering the Brig has passed away, the whole business with an alternate world and everyone wearing eye patches was a very subtle tip of the hat to the old fella. He used to love telling that tale about the filming of Inferno, in which he played an evil version of the Brig who sported an eye patch and one day on set every one else donned on to surprise him...

Sip 8 - Yes, there was alot to enjoy in this one - live chess, Churchill, Area 52 - but it was not quite as triumphant a finale as usual. This prophecy about the fall and the fields of Trentzalore is intriguing. Now looking at the series timeline, effectively we've got one more series before hitting the 50th anniversary in 2013. So is this the middle section in a Silence trilogy to take us up to the big event? Yes, I think it could be - certainly would fit the tone of this finale... a moody one like the end of Empire Strikes Back!

Dunks biscuit again - Bloody hell! Just realised something - that shot from the 'Coming Soon' bit at the end of A Good Man Goes To War - you know the skeletal hand holding a dying sonic? Obviously that was NEVER any thing to do with the events at Lake Silencio... Is that yet to come?

Sip 9 - But what about the answer to the oldest question in the universe apparently being 'Doctor who?' Can't decide whether that's daft or just rubbish! Surely the oldest question would be something like 'Is there a God?' or 'Why are we here?'... But hold up matey! It's only the oldest question according to the beliefs of the Silence! And they're blatantly Doctor-obsessed nutters! So that does work... and on several meta-levels! You cheeky git Moffat!

Sip 10 - Still a bit disappointed by the Teselecta though. I'd thought of that one! It should have been something I didn't anticipate dammit!

Sip 11 - But I bet alot of other folks didn't see it coming, and most heavily I guess in the general audience... You know those millions poor sods outside the hallowed halls of nerdom, who are either wheeled out as victims of cruel scriptwriters and their complex plots, or the despised element that's making the show is now being crap because it's writing down for them.

Sip 12 -  Hang on! In that case, shouldn't I be patting myself on the back for being a clever dick rather than whinging? Me guessing and the set of expectations I cultivated aren't exactly Moffat's fault are they?

Drops biscuit in tea! - Thank Rassilon I didn't charge onto the net and start shrieking like a twat!

Sip 13 - We're a right pack of gits sometimes aren't we? We can't just say 'I didn't like that one' and move on, we have to make out it's an apocalypse event. And in doing so we're often missing important points. Just because we may feel let down that we guessed, we're too quick to accuse Moffat terrible writing, and  yet screaming 'cheat!' and 'rewind!' shows us to be guilty of the same sloppy thinking we're claiming he's guilty of.  In the case of this episode, the plot mechanics of the Doctor's survival aren't actually the most important thing. The fact is we've been mass debating his apparent death for so long, nitpicking over the scifi bullshit - and I stress I'm guilty of this too - we've forgotten to pay attention to the proper content of the story.

And that's partly why genre work isn't taken more seriously, why there's a split between art and pop culture. Because we're always claiming our favourite scifi deserves to be taken seriously, but when people from the other side of fence pay us a visit they find us squabbling over the specs of spaceships and what abilities androids have built in rather than discussing the themes and character development...

In this season, the real story has been the Doctor coming to terms with the consequences of his actions, of what he has actually become through blithely flying through time and space and helping out as he sees fit. And it has ended with the Doctor deciding to let the cosmos think he has gone and be far more circumspect in what he does...

 And I rather suspect that future Who fans, who will come to this season without the blinkers of expectations over the Doctor's death, will judge this set of stories on the above basis. And they'll find all this hullabaloo rather foolish and somewhat embarrassing, in much the same way we look back at the tantrums, or should that be fantrums over The Three Doctors which was absolutely despised for the heinous crime of making the Time Lords look a bit doddery.

Last sip - One of the great delusions of being in a fan is thinking we know better. However what we often forget is that Doctor Who isn't our show, it a god-damn British institution. And furthermore it's probably the most difficult program on television to write these days. Now there's no brief for the series at the BBC, but in the ruins of the Death Zone on Gallifrey - and yes, yes, I know it's not there any more but don't go missing the point again - there is an ancient prophecy carved into the primordial rock. And it reads thus...

For those who would chronicle the adventures 

Of the One they called the Doctor, 

Beware the legions of the Howling Halls,

For if it is too simple they shalt carp,

If it be too complex they will bleat,

If you recount tales in isolation

You will be accused of pandering to fools,

Yet if thou constructs a serial

They will complain said fools cannot follow it!

Should thou be witty in your tellings

Bile and venom shall follow,

Be thou serious, and kickings will descend,

Show a heart and thy name shall be soap,

And if it be terrifying, they shall bitch

'Won't some one think of the children!'

Yes, as Our Lord truly said "There's no pleasing some people!" (Brian 6 v2). And although I am undoubtedly an obsessive Who, there are still enough corners in my brain not stuffed with Daleks and wooly scarves to realise that I really wouldn't relish being in charge of the show and having to somehow balance these multifarious polarities and try to please millions of people. And obviously you can't please all of the people all of the time and sometimes episodes do falter. 

But more importantly, far too often we forget the fact that both Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat have managed to pull off this Herculean feat on many many occasions. And as we always claim the Doctor is a great role model, we therefore should act with a little more grace when we perceive they do drop the ball...

Right, I'm putting the kettle again on, anyone fancy a cup? I've got a whole season to rewatch and some Jammie Dodgers...

DOCTOR WHO - The God Complex Spoiler Zone

Shh! Spoilers sweetie!

Now then, although I think I pretty much covered all the important stuff in my spoiler free review, I couldn't let this episode pass by without having a closer look at it. And why? Well it's got a bloody Minotaur in it for a start!

And aside from a long standing love of these fabled man-beasts of Grecian myth (thank you the Ladybird's Famous Legends Book 1), the Minotaur is subject to an unofficial and somewhat jokey fan rule of Doctor Who. And this states, rather bluntly, that any story with a Minotaur in it is shit!

Previous to The God Complex, this legendary monster has appeared three times in Who history, and it is fair to say that the results haven't exactly been the show's finest hours. The first Minotaur appearance was in The Mind Robber, a second Doctor adventure which saw the TARDIS crew marooned in the Land of Fiction, where they encountered a whole slew of characters and creatures from stories, including our bull-headed friend, Medusa, Gulliver, Rapunzel and a comic hero from the future the Karkus who appears to be an uncanny prediction of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Now I quite like The Mind Robber, however its surreal and quirky nature make it something of a love it or hate it affair. However as the Minotaur only appears briefly, it's also true to say that generally fans weren't thinking of this story when the 'rule' was coined.  Oh no, it was the horrors of the following two tales that featured the Minotaur more heavily that inspired it.

In the Third Doctor adventure The Time Monster, we had a confusing story involving Atlantis, Chronovores and the Master executing a rather dubious evil scheme and making a right TOMTIT of himself. On the plus side, we have the legendary Ingrid Pitt as the Queen of Atlantis, Dave 'the body of Darth Vader'  Prowse as  the Minotaur, and this serial added much to the mythology of the show. On the downside though, we have a plot that makes little sense and the lead monster, Kronos the Chronovore, looks like a bizarre chicken-chess piece hybrid constructed by origami.

Knight takes bishop! Fold along dotted line! Cluck!

However with its cult favourite casting and a truly bonkers storyline, The Time Monster can be said to possess a certain charm. Which is more than can be said of the next Homo Bovine outing, The Horns of Nimon...

On now paper, I'm sure this Fourth Doctor adventure looked like fried gold - essentially being the Theseus myth transplanted into outer space. However what reached the screen was a bored looking Tom Baker mucking about in the same six foot of dull white corridors over and over again, and annoying the titular Nimons, a race of disco-galactic Minotaurs in platform heels. Yes, a promising idea not so much let down as ruthlessly torpedoed by a grand slam of poor script, direction, design and performances. And it's no surprise that this serial regularly features in the round-ups of the worst Who story ever made.

However what is very surprising is that The God Complex turned out to be a sequel of sorts to this much (and rightly) maligned story. But more shocking still was that this cousin of the Nimon tale actually was a rather decent outing for the Eleventh Doctor! Proof, I guess, that rules are made to be broken and that you can teach on old dog new tricks.

Say oops upside your head! Oops upside your head!

But that wasn't the only surprise in store; for all those not familiar with the horrors of the Nimon (oh you lucky breed!), the big shocker was the departure of Rory and Amy. Now obviously this revelation set many viewers all of a flutter, as although the previous episodes had seemingly been laying the ground for them leaving, it was something of surprise for them to go right now.

However others were less convinced that this was really their departure from the show. After all, both Arthur Davrill and Karen Gillan had said recently in interviews that they would be back for the next series. However to keep the big secret under wraps, they naturally would say that! And earlier there had been speculation that they would leave at the end of the current series following announcements of the pair's future acting commitments which appeared to rule out them having the time to film Doctor Who. 

Now I don't think we've seen the last of the Ponds, and it's a safe bet that they will be back for the final episode of this season The Wedding of River Song at the very least. However I tend to think that perhaps their travels in the TARDIS are over and that after the finale it might be just be the odd guest appearance now and again when the Doctor drops by. Certainly I have the impression, that this time time our Time Lord hero may make more of an effort to visit these particular old friends.

Then again with Mr Moffat in charge, there's all sorts of timey-wimey means by which they could reappear. And I think it's also a very safe bet that the final episode of this series will feature a fair few twists and turns. For example, I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that River Song is not actually Melody Pond and than Amy and Rory will leave again with a babe in arms to raise...

DOCTOR WHO 6.10 - The Girl Who Waited

Scanners indicate an absence of spoilers

Well, dear friends I suspect this may well be a very short review, as it would appear Tom MacRae has been taking make-life-hell-for-the-non-spoiler-reviewer lessons from Steven Moffat!

Now then, first up I must confess I didn't have huge expectations for this episode. Partly this  was due to the fact that while I quite enjoyed Mr MacRae's Rise of The Cybermen, I did felt it suffered from a little too much borrowing from other areas of Doctor Who past and present - John Lumic was slightly too close to a rerun of Genesis of the Daleks era Davros and the attempts to elicit sympathy for the Cybermen echoed Dalek in Series One too loudly. 

And secondly judging from the preview, it looked like it would be a fairly run of the mill outing - Doctor and companions get trapped in a futurist complex and do alot of running about and robot dodging until escaping at the 45 minute mark. And while the white rooms and matching droids seemed to promised some old school thrills in the vein of The Celestial Toymaker or The Mind Robber, it still appeared from the preview to be standard fare, fun but not exceptional. 

However, I do love it when I'm utterly wrong... For this was anything but standard. Quite the opposite in fact, The Girl Who Waited turned out to be actually rather stellar! And although it's true that the episode IS the Doctor, Rory and Amy trapped in a futurist complex and trying to escape while ducking its robotic denizens. However it delivers so much more...

Of course, the trouble is I can't tell you too much about it without giving the game away. However what I can say is that as you have probably surmised from the title, this is a very Amy-centric tale, but also it features a beautiful central performance from Karen Gillan. And we're talking  real knocking it out of the park stuff here. And she's matched with an equally powerful performance from Arthur Davril and some rather subtle work from Matt Smith. 

It's looks great and  features some eye catching direction from Nick Hurran. And indeed it was so well crafted, that it was only when I started to look up a few background facts for this review that I discovered that this is the cheap Doctor-lite episode for this block!

However the biggest credit must go to Tom MacRae, who has delivered an episode which both plays with some deep sci-fi concepts and delivers some very powerful drama. Now some will undoubted say that there was either too of the latter or not enough of the former, however personally I think the balance was spot on, with both elements complimenting and strengthening each other. 

Now I honestly dare not write much more for fear of spoilers slipping in, so then I shall round this off by saying that The Girl Who Waited is on par with the likes of Amy's Choice and The Doctor's Wife, so if you loved those stories, you are in for another treat...

DOCTOR WHO 6.07 - A Good Man Goes To War

Scanners indicate an absence of spoilers

Yesterday morning, just for a change, the British weather actually deigned to deliver an archetypal summer’s day rather than the usual rainy drivel it increasingly fobs us off with. So then, there were blue skies, high temperatures and blazing sun. Across the land, parks and gardens filled with folk working on their tans and the scent of barbeques filled the air. Workers sought the flimsiest excuse to run unnecessary errands and get outside and into the sunshine, while yet others indulged in the ancient and noble British traditions of drinking to excess and projectile vomiting onto the statues in the town centre…

However for Doctor Who fans none of this summer goodness mattered not one jot, for they knew a storm was on the horizon, a dark day was coming and good man was going to war…

…But while we were all looking forward to this grand finale of the first half of Series 6, there was the heavy burden of knowing that without a doubt, Moffat and Co. were doing to leave us with a massive cliff-hanger and a long wait until autumn.

And for this humble scribbler, there was the certain knowledge that this mid-season finale would prove to be an absolute nightmare to review without leaking any potential spoilers. And indeed it is! But I'd have to say in the best possible way...

So then, firstly let’s address what is already common knowledge, that this episode features the return of three classic villains and weigh up how these members of the League of Famous Monsters fare in this story…

SONTARANS… are glorious in battle! And spouting some of best lines since The Time Warrior

SILURIANS… are back on en masse and a certain warrior, ‘Madame Vastra’ is destined to be a fan favourite.

CYBERMEN… Rather than being terrified of the implacable silver giants, I was actually scared FOR them in this adventure...

But this motley crew weren’t the only returning faces. For also back on our screens was Dorium (AKA The Big Fat Blue Bloke) who we first saw in the opening scenes of The Pandorica Opens and in the prequel to this episode…



But you don’t want to know about him do you? No, you want to know about a certain female who keeps appearing…

I refer of course to THE EYEPATCH LADY – yes, this episode we finally get to meet her properly and discover something of who she is…

What you do mean that wasn’t who you were talking about?

Well, enough teasing – I’ll leave that to the master of such shenanigans, Mr Moffat. Yes, RIVER SONG is back. And yes, we do finally learn who she really is. Now as there has been so much speculation over her real identity, among all the wild theories I encountered one indeed was right. So some of you will be patting yourselves on the back for guessing correctly, while many more will face palming and shouting ‘of course!’. However be warned, whether you guessed right or wrong, the answers will probably spark a few more questions!

As for the regular cast, Amy is top form again; she has a wonderful line, beautifully delivered in the pre-credits sequence that’s worth the price of admission alone. Of course Matt Smith is excellent as always, seen his running the gauntlet of emotions from good humour, to cold rage to absolute heart break. And we get to see the Doctor absolutely tongue-tied. But I ain't saying about what obviously!

But Rory... well Rory simply rocks. Last review I remarked how I’d been slow to warm to his character but this series he was finding a place in my heart. Well after tonight’s episode, he’s got the deeds! Massive props to Arthur Davrill.

And finally then to the last question on your lips – how maddeningly cruel is the cliff-hanger? Well, it’s pretty big; there’s enough revealed to be satisfying but plenty left up in the air to get the autumn return off to a flying start.

Over all, there’s only one word for this episode and that is ‘epic’. There are surprises galore, plenty of explosions, and the new characters, the Headless Monks are very creepy. But as well as action, the high drama and touching emotional moments, there are more than a few laughs along the way too. It's fine way to wrap up this half of the season. What unfolds at Demon’s Run is, if you’ll pardon the pun, one hell of ride…

DOCTOR WHO – The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People Spoiler Zone

Scanners indicate… Look, you did read the title right?

Fittingly enough, this assortment of ill judged ramblings will be in two parts just like its subject. Firstly we’ll weigh up the episodes themselves and then move on the realm of wild speculation regarding its possible implications for this Saturday’s mid season finale and the wider story arc.

So then, what of the story itself? Well firstly, and most flippantly, I do have a problem with the two parter format in new Who and that is this – what the hell do we call the story as a whole? Although individual episodes having their own title is a nice return to the naming conventions of the days of the First Doctor, in returning to this, it also sees the rebirth of the long running fan headache of what are these stories actually called. And there are no Target Book adaptations these days to help out either! Mind you, these paperback archives of the old shows sometimes confused matters further – I would be at all surprised if in a parallel universe where they are still being produced, the tome for this brace of episodes is entitled Doctor Who And The Acid Factory…

…Which actually isn’t a bad moniker for this adventure, considering its mind bending twists and turns. For besides delivering two top class cliff-hangers that gets fan theorising engines blowing gaskets left, right and centre, this story made excellent use of that old genre favourite, the doppelganger. The usual fun and games of such tales was much in evidence here – keeping track of when characters were the originals or their Flesh doubles – and with some rather neat swerves thrown in. But it was also refreshing that Matthew Graham’s script didn’t take the easy, expected route of having the Gangers be purely evil twins.

Now the moral dilemma is a classic Doctor Who plot element, providing the backbone for such classics as Genesis of the Daleks and The Silurians. However this two parter rather neatly delivered two for the price of one, with both the humans and the Gangers debating the ethics of their planned actions. And not only did this nicely mirror the wider themes of duality in the script but also led to some interesting reversals of opinion. For example, while in the first part it looked like that crew leader Cleaves (Raquel Cassidy) was going to be the usual hard headed aggressor that blows any chance of a peaceful solution (a common trope in classic base-under-siege stories) , the second showed both versions of her revising their stance.

And we had some great performances to back up the script, with the afore mentioned Ms. Cassidy and Michael Bonnar as Jimmy bringing wonderfully played subtle nuances to their roles. And the regular performed very well – Arthur Davril in particular was wonderful in this outing. Again we see that beneath his klutziness, there is a brave and noble man. He’s equally committed to doing the right thing, but is not afraid to question or even call out the Doctor on his decisions. I’ve really warmed to Rory this series, and this adventure definitely had me tipping into a genuine love for the character.

Karen Gillan was on top form too; it was nice to see her get plenty of solid dramatic meat to get her teeth into. Obviously this script itself required her to deliver more than just screaming, sarcasm and a lot of leg, but it was the little touches she brought to the performance that show off her talents. For example, I loved the way that when she was finally reunited with Rory, she hugged him passionately and then gave him a little playful punch which clearly said ‘that’s for running off and locking us in a crypt, stupid…but I’m still awfully proud of you!’

Of course there was a brilliant performance from Matt Smith. It was a real delight to see two Doctors playing off each other – not just double the now typical excellence but a chance to see a wider than usual range of emotions from the character. But it was also a relief that the Ganger Doctor plot strand didn’t head down the evil double route. Aside from the fact that the bad twin plot has been done to death, I think it was important for the second Doctor to remain clearly on the side of good in a story that was potentially very frightening for younger viewers. Now much has been said about how this series is a lot more frightening for children, but the great thing about the show is that despite how terrifying the monsters are – and indeed they were rather horrible and creepy in this adventure – there is always the guarantee that the Doctor will be bright and funny and save the day. And so it was very appropriate to have the dark scariness leavened with two versions of our favourite Time Lord running about and having a ball together.

But the real star turn for me was Sarah Smart as the real villain of the piece Jenn, impressively delivered both touching innocence and psychotic revenge. And again the script was very deft in making sure that even when she had turned to the darkness, we could still understand the reasons for her actions – this wasn’t just simple hostility or cardboard evil but the result of a mind broken by the burdens of shared pain and the knowledge of real injustices.

While the first episode would remind sci-fi fans of John Carpenter’s The Thing, the second part, although there would still be a similar ‘who is friend and who is foe’ dynamic at work, the overall thrust became more reminiscent of Moon, with the reveal of the discarded Flesh pile. However rather than cookie cutter evil corporation antics at work, it was very pleasing to see that the whole sorry situation was born out of that usual source of misfortune, human ignorance – no one had realised that the Flesh was capable of memory and independent sentience.

Now I will admit that I did have some slight concerns throughout both episodes that possibly this story would just morph into a Doctor Who remake of either of the two classic movies referenced above. However as it turned out, Graham’s tale resolutely forged its own path, which while exploring similar territory asked different questions and brought its own revelations.

It also was a winning fusion of new and old Who. Aside from the cheeky nods to the show’s past – both overt like the sampling of previous incarnations in the Ganger Doctor’s stabilising scene, and subtle like the record player in an ancient monastery (that’s a wink to the Hartnell story The Time Meddler ) - this outing featured a classic serial structure and top quality corridor action, allowing the story to breath and develop and deliver some distinctly old school thrills. But at the same time, its character depth, crafty plotting and emotional punch showcase the best elements of the reborn series.

This is an adventure of many different levels and the more I consider its well crafted layers the more I like it. For besides having an impressive amount of character depth, it also ties in nicely to the on-going themes of memory and identity that have been running throughout both this and the last series. Apologies if this all sounds a little too much like bringing pretentious literary criticism into a Who review but clearly as well as a stronger story arc, the Moffat tenure has seen the introduction of proper recurring themes – if the RTD years had a not so subtle ‘humans are great’ subtext, now we have adventures that are linked by an exploration of how the stories we tell ourselves - the narratives formed by our memories - define both who we are and the worlds we inhabit.

However as I stated in the spoiler free review of the The Almost People, the trouble for this story is that all of the above will be somewhat overlooked thanks to the revelations and implications for the rest of the season.

But before we start mucking about with these intriguing titbits and possible clues, allow me to properly answer a question posed in the afore mentioned spoiler-free write up . So then, to swiftly recap, I wondered whether Moffat and Graham were pulling a similar manoeuvre to the end of Series 3, where a seemingly stand alone episode, Utopia was in fact the first part of a three part finale.

Now if you’d checked the official Doctor Who website or encountered more spoiler happy news feeds, you’d have seen the return of the Sontarans and the Silurians announced for A Good Man Goes To War and talk of The Almost People containing an epic cliff-hanger.

And if you did, hands up who thought that this episode would be largely unconnected with the rest of the on-going story and just feature a surprise appearance from this pair of old enemies at the end. You know the kind of thing – a completely tacked on epilogue with them popping up waving jazz hands.

Thankfully though, that wasn’t the case. But at the same time, this adventure isn’t just the unofficial parts one and two of a closing trilogy either. Largely the story can stand on its own, but at the same time once you get the end and discover that Amy has been replaced by a Ganger, you find that a lot of what the Doctor(s) say and do in this adventure has a wider relevance; he’s not just working out the details needed to solve the immediate situation but studying the properties of the Flesh.

Again this is rather neat plotting. For a start, it’s far more elegant than the story arc linkage in Graham’s last outing Fear Her which lazily closed with the Doctor intoning “There’s a storm coming”. Instead we have a story that works in it’s own right but also builds up the momentum of the on-going story line, and weighted I think just right. There’s enough to get regular viewers excited (something of an understatement there) but not enough to alienate the causal audience. Indeed for the latter, I suspect the way this one unfolded will have many tuning in again next week and going back to catch up on what has come before. In other words, it’s a real demonstration of having your cake and eating it.

So then what potential hints do we have in here? Well, to begin with there is the Ganger Doctor. At the end of The Rebel Flesh, the obvious conclusion was that the man who we saw killed by the Impossible Astronaut was the Flesh double. However seemingly, this ‘spare’ is promptly taken off the board at the end of The Almost People with the Almost Doctor/John Smith dissolving.

However is it really that simple? Remember that Jenn’s descent into villainy comes because she can remember her previous incarnation and their painful decommissioning, and more importantly, the original Doctor explicitly says to his counterpart that the Flesh has memory and there might be a way to return.

But there’s more… If you watch very closely, as I did, you will notice there is something fishing going on with the sonic screwdriver. We see the original surreptitiously chuck over the trusted multi-purpose tool to Smith. However later on, when they are trapped facing rising acid, the ‘real’ Time Lord has it back… Now this isn’t a case of him having two in his famously capacious pockets, because he needs to give it back to Smith to destroy the Jenn-Beast at the finale.

Now this has been flagged up as a continuity error. And an obvious explanation is that there is a missing scene where they pass the sonic but honestly it’s hard to see when this could occur. But I suspect there’s something more sinister at work, for in the last series there was a similar supposed continuity cock-up. In Flesh And Stone the Doctor regains his jacket for a scene. Of course, now we know that this wasn’t a production assistant losing track of props, but a Doctor from the future rewinding through his time line. So then I suspect there something similar going on here and possibly there is more than one duplicate of the Doctor strolling around in this story…

…After all, now seemingly the Doctor knows that Amy has seen him die in the future – note his remark about “being invited” when Smith is facing his doom holding the door.

Of course there are many more questions raised in this story. How long ago was Amy replaced? Well, the obvious point would be in the “3 months later” gap at the beginning of Day of the Moon - well, I did say in the spoiler piece for that episode, we would be returning to that section of missing time, didn’t I?

More puzzling, does the Doctor have an idea who the Eye Patch Lady actually is? Him saying to Amy “push but only when she tells you too” and the fact he seems familiar with the future use of Flesh technology, seems to indicate he knows something more than he’s letting on.

Finally then, let’s round off with some speculation as to how the Sontarans and Silurians are going to figure in A Good Man Goes To War. Firstly, we should note that as I discovered here, the Silurians were aware Amy is pregnant, it’s not too surprising they are going to figure in the next episode.

Now on the subject of Amy’s pregnancy, considering that in Amy’s Choice she is dreaming of future where she is with child, it would suggest that subconsciously she was aware she had conceived. And furthermore, as she had been reunited with Rory in the previous episode (The Vampires of Venice) and we got the potential love triangle dealt with, I suspect it was during *ahem* the post fish-battering celebrations that conception occurred.

But what of the Sontarans? Well, firstly these fearsome alien warmongers are a clone race, and in The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky we did see them using their technology to duplicate humans. Is the Flesh something back engineered from the cloning devices left behind? After all, UNIT and Torchwood are known to seize such alien tech and tinker with it, not to mention independent collectors like Henry Van Statten. And furthermore, the acid proof suits look suspiciously similar in design to Sontaran battle armour…

Of course with Cybermen and River Song returning too, all of the above might not be relevant and it’s just the Alliance of Famous Monsters having another pop at the Doctor…

 …But that seems far too simple! One thing is sure though – whatever happens you can bet Moffat’s got something up those sleeves that no one has seen coming yet!

DOCTOR WHO Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon Spoiler Zone

Shhh! Spoilers!

Well, it certainly was a wild way to open your new season! The Doctor it would appear is dead, killed by the mysterious astronaut, River Song definitely seems to his (future) wife, there’s an enigmatic little girl would may or may not be in the space suited figure that slays our Time Lord hero, and Amy would appear to be potentially pregnant (and I’ll explain that later). Last summer, Moffat promised us that the mid season finale would be a “a game changing cliff-hanger that will change everything” and Series 6 of new Who has clearly begun with the kind of almighty set-up that such an epic storyline would need…

Now first of all, let me nail my colours to the mast (Getting ahead of yourself there Mr Jim, the pirate ship’s next week! – Ed) – this brace of episodes really impressed me. Cunningly plotted and equally packed with scares and wit, this opening stories hits all the right marks for what I want from Doctor Who. But aside from all of that, I have nothing but admiration for the Grand Moff for kicking off the new season at the level most other series only climb up to for the closing episodes.

For example, the final cliff-hanger in Series 4 was the Tenth Doctor seemingly exterminated by the Daleks. However being an RTD story there was a convenient deus ex machine suddenly popping up in the form of some hitherto unknown wrinkles in the regeneration process to quickly tidy it up. However Moffat has significantly raised the stakes – the Eleventh Doctor is dead with no hope of regeneration and, more to the point, rabbit-from-the-hat solutions just aren't his style.

So therefore, I wasn't at all surprised that the Doctor’s demise wasn’t reversed by the end of Day of the Moon. However from sampling various reviews here and there across the net, it would seem a fair few were somewhat disgruntled that everything wasn't neatly tied up. Well sorry folks, we’re in a new age of Doctor Who now where’s there’s going to be proper story arcs, with episodes linked by a lot more than just dropping in a token reference here and there. And this is a good thing! No, honestly it is! Let’s address the various concerns…

The one I'm hearing the most is that “it’s going alienate causal viewers”. Well despite the now annual exercise in lazy journalism that claims that Doctor Who is falling in the ratings, if you visit the Doctor Who News page which regularly reports the stats, you’ll see that the figures are actually very, very healthy. Yes, the guesstimated overnight numbers are lower than usual but that is a combination of hot weather and both episodes falling in Bank Holiday weekends. However the properly calculated figures are a different matter demonstrating that the show is respectably holding its own, competing with those ratings heavy weights, the soaps, gaining a large share of the viewing audience and scoring very high on audience appreciation.

And all of this despite being screened after the TV train wreck that is Don’t Scare The Hare - if you are looking for a show that is really is well and truly failing, seek no further!

Plus The Impossible Astronaut is well on the way to breaking the record for most watched/downloaded show in iPlayer history and Day of the Moon in just fours days has clocked up over a million plays – and that’s nearly double the hits the Royal Wedding has got.

So can we finally put this one to bed? Next time some idle fuckwit at the Daily Mail or whatever starts bleating about how Doctor Who is dying, just remember there’s more chance of finding a Yeti in the loos at Tooting Bec than discovering a true fact in such vacuous scare-mongering rags!

But the figures, which you can check for yourselves, also effectively counter the other most heard complaint about Series 6 “that it’s getting too complicated for ordinary viewers”. As I stated in my review of Day of the Moon, we forget that the general public like serials; those oft despised reality TV shows only succeed because they are edited to make an on-going story line. And soap viewers are used to dealing with the kind of labyrinthine continuities that rival the complexities of the Marvel and DC Universe. So I doubt that more closely linked stories in Doctor Who are going to prove too much of a problem.

And it’s also worth paying close attention to what Mr Moffat says in the interview linked above. He clearly says that the epic cliff-hanger he’s planning is possible because of the two halves structure of Series 6. He understands very well that setting up big mysteries that don’t get resolved for ages is a sure way to alienate viewers.

For this whole business of long story lines in genre shows causing the ratings to haemorrhage like an impaled Cyberman in The Five Doctors isn't down to the general populace being too thick to appreciate scifi or any such nonsense, it’s due to shows like Lost and Battlestar Galactica treading water and testing even genre fans’ patience by not developing the on-going plot lines swiftly enough. Now I'm not saying they were terrible shows here, but I can understand why viewers drifted away after being kept dangling for so long at certain points in their histories.

Rather there’s a fine balance between developing a satisfying story arc and telling individual stories, and Moffat understands this well. Consider, for example, how the last season played out – instead of the Cracks just being a repeated visual equivalent of past seasons’ catchphrases like ‘Bad Wolf’ or ‘Mr Saxon’, we actually continued to learn more about them and what they signified steadily throughout the series. So it’s safe to say that more will be revealed in the coming weeks and there will be some answers to the big questions by the June break rather than a big reveal in the final episodes in the autumn.

Now with all of that out of the way, let’s move onto the meat of the episodes themselves. Now to address another common issue, quite a few folk have remarked on the swerve Day of the Moon opens with – we rapidly jump from the cliff-hanger to ‘Three Months Later’. And naturally this has prompted a good deal of head scratching. Yes, the episode does give you enough detail to work out that Canton hunting down the Doctor and his friends is a ruse to fool the Silence, however many have felt that it was insufficiently explained.

And initially this was my reaction too. However having seen the rest of the episode and discovered exactly what is resolved, I’d have to say that why this start is a little jarring, it’s fairly clear that this missing chunk of time is going to be revisited later in the season. Remember how in the Weeping Angels story last year, we had the mystery of the Doctor’s reappearing jacket and the revisiting of those scenes at the conclusion? Well I think Moffat is doing much the same here as there is a lot still to be explained that we can’t pick up from Day of the Moon…

…The big one being the Doctor’s Area 51 cell being made of dwarf star alloy. Now this is an alien material and there are questions therefore on where it came from. Viewers with long memories may recall that the Tenth Doctor chained Father Of Mine with chains made from this substance in The Family of Blood, but long-time Who watchers will be thinking of the Tom Baker era tale Warriors’ Gate…

Now in this story featured a race called the Tharils, who could cross time lines at will, and also looked like contemporary popster (and later urban reformer) Daryl Hall … Well, it was the ‘80s!

Daryl Hall

A Tharil

But aside from cheap gags, the point of mentioning this tale is that it might have a clue or two for the current story line. You see the Tharils could cross time lines at will, and where being enslaved to use their innate abilities to power spacecraft across hyperspace. And they were being contained by dwarf star alloy which inhibited their abilities to cross into different dimensions of space-time. Furthermore this whole adventure took place in another universe called E-Space. Now obviously all of the above raises some interesting possibilities for resolving the Doctor’s apparent death…

…But of course it might not! It could just be one of Moffat’s call-backs to the classic series – the Doctor’s mention of being present at the Fall of Rome wasn't just a bit of showing off; he was there and we saw this in the William Hartnell adventure The Romans. But certainly there will more detail on the dwarf star alloy I'm sure. Moffat plays a long game!

Amy’s pregnancy is a case in point. Of course, there’s the obvious possible foreshadowing in Amy’s Choice in which one of the dream realities has her with child (quick aside: the mysterious Eyepatch Lady in Day of the Moon says “she’s still dreaming” - does this signify the hand of the Dream Lord at work?). But there’s another more sneaky reference in The Hungry Earth - if you care to recall the Silurians had sucked Amy down to their city and then scan her… And this is what results…

Yes, that is a heart beat appearing when they scan her stomach! Now I clocked this at the time and expected it was setting up getting her out of harm with the old “we will not hurt you as you have young” alien cliché, but the story didn't belabour that old saw and I promptly forgot about it… until last week that is!

You see, looooooooong game! Therefore the missing three months in this opening tale isn’t sloppy writing like RTD resurrecting the Master with a load of never to be explained smoking potion hugger mugger, it’s a deliberate omission; a piece of narrative sleight of hand.

Now I'm not going to speculate on the many mysteries this story presents. There are endless theories online as to what the regenerating child is, who River Song is and how the Doctor will escape – my favourite is the tongue in cheek suggestion made by Mike in the Bigger on the Inside podcast that River Song is the TARDIS - but as the wonderful Nuts4r2 sagely remarks in his own reviews of these episodes, it’s almost pointless to speculate as we don’t have enough pieces on the board yet. However I do think it’s worth mentioning the fact that the TARDIS scanner can’t seem to decide whether Amy is Pregnant or not. And this would suggest that perhaps the time-lines are currently in flux…

Similarly I'm not convinced we’ve seen the last of the Silence. For a start on a technical note, just having the Silence turn out to be just some skull faced aliens in suits is too much of a let down. Admittedly they were superbly scary but not quite big or bad enough to justify the previous season build up. And I'm not sure they are the Silence – they may be part of it but they are not the full deal. Remember what they say to Amy - “You are Amelia Pond…We do you honour…. You will bring the Silence….”

Perhaps we should be calling them the Silents… And also bear in mind that we never did discover what their plan was. And certainly they didn't build the mystery ship we saw in The Lodger or the dwarf star alloy – they definitively state that they use the technology of other races.

It’s an intoxicating brew alright! But the big questions aside, I’ll wrap this rambling up with a final point. If you have any doubts about Moffat’s plotting, consider how clever the resolution to Day of the Moon was. An on-going problem in the Doctor Who universe is that present day Earth has to remain very close to our own real-life continuum yet you have to wonder after all the invasions why the world in the series hasn’t become an alternate universe where every one knows that aliens are real. Yet for this most virulent infestation presented in this tale, Moffat has a very intelligent twist – we repelled the Silence but because of the way they operate no one remembers doing it. It deftly presents a global threat without destroying credibility or continuity, and is also wonderfully ironic dramatically.

Now next week, it would seem we have something of breather with a high seas adventure featuring “a stroppy, homicidal mermaid”. But I’m not ruling out a few more clues surfacing amid the cutlasses and tricorne hats! And if not, who cares – it’s the good Doctor tangling with pirates and Lilly Cole! All board? Yes, indeed!