DOCTOR WHO 7.7 - The Rings of Akhaten

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The Rings of Akhaten was a big, colourful, emotional episode and, well, not the kind of episode I was expecting from the creator of the bleak, gritty and dark cop show Luther! However it's fair to say that first time Who scribe Neil Cross has created an adventure that going to keep folks talking for some time, and that's because it's one of those episodes that either knock your socks off or leaves you yawning... But I'm getting ahead of myself! 

Let's have a look at the basics first. Well, we got a nicely realised visit to alien climes, complete with a whole  Cantina bar's worth of different and new races. Obviously Matt Smith was on good form as usual, however special mention and praise for That Speech. Also as I'd hoped we got to see a different side to Jenna-Louise Coleman - yes, folks there was plenty of nice character moments here and generally showing her to be a lot more than a collection of witty one liners and a sassy attitude. 

Now then, on the other hand this episode did have 'first time writer to Who' written all over it - and the reason I say that is I have noticed over the years that new hands do have a tendency to look to the show's past and assemble a script magpie-style. And in The Rings of Akhaten you could certainly identify elements lifted from the program's recent history. 

To begin with, the whole first outing for a new companion being an impressive event chosen by the Doctor was very reminiscent of Rose's maiden voyage in the TARDIS in The End of the World. Furthermore the rousing third act with the uplifting crowd singing echoed Gridlock, and the Doctor delivering a stirring monologue in the face of an awakening ancient monster god will remind more than a few viewers of a similar scene in The Satan Pit. 

However in fairness, in a show with a fifty year history, it's rather hard to write something that a knowledgeable can't find a parallel for in the past. And the real question isn't whether Mr Cross has been *ahem* heavily inspired by previous adventures but whether this new story works or not. And that's where this episode gets a bit tricky.

Firstly to drawn another parallel from the recent past, this is very much a story in the mould of The Beast Below - the important feature here is not the story. The plot line is merely a McGuffin to establish the Doctor and new companions relationship,; it's where they learn how the Doctor operates and he discover whether they have the heart to adventure with him.

But more importantly The Rings of Akhaten is one of those big colourful stories, it's all about big spectacle, grand speeches and a torrent of emotion. And those aims are paired nicely with the plot line which is about feeling and music and the archetypal power of stories and sentiment. It's not about plot detail, it's not even about thrills, it's about the emotions. It's an episode that is working on an  impressionistic level rather than centering on narrative intricacies, it's aiming for the heart rather than the head.  

Now if you go along with the story's tide, you may well be swept away by the end. And as such, if it works for you, you rate it higher than probably any of the other stories I've reference in this piece. However if, for example, you've come here expecting a slice of SF or a romping adventure, then all the operatics of The Rings of Akhaten will, well, ring hollow. 

And which side of the fence does your humble reviewer fall? Well, I can understand why some will be unimpressed and even why some will hate it, for this kind of story's conclusion hinges upon an emotional moment rather any strictly logical twist. However that's an artistic trade-off I can live with, and indeed from how the story it unfolded, it was the kind of end-game I expected. 

Now I did enjoy it and I did like it, but I wasn't completely bowled over with it. However in all honesty, I'm not sure whether that was the episode itself not quite succeeding in provoking the desired in effect or whether  that was down to me being distracted by my internal reviewer making notes - for certainly in the big finale I was half thinking of the howls of 'this doesn't make sense!' and 'Pah! Sentimental guff!' that would be emanating from some corners of fandom. And also trying to decide if there was a lift from Blade Runner in the Doctor's big speech. Such distracting backchat from the back of your own bonce is one of the perils of reviewing... 

I guess this is one of those Marmite episodes - as so often the big emotional ones are. But hey, whether you loved it or hated, next week we have a monsters on a submarine tale that looks set to deliver the kind of  old school thrill and chills that we all love. 

DOCTOR WHO 7.6 The Bells of St. John

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Well, first things first we have new titles and a new mix of the theme tune. Well, I say new, they actually debuted with the Christmas special The Snowmen but as I didn't review that they deserve a mention here. Firstly my reaction to the latest incarnation of the iconic theme is pretty much the same as my reaction to every theme since 1980 and that is to shout at the telly "Bring the bloody Delia Derbyshire version back, this new version is bobbins!" 

Yes, I know, I'm a hard-liner! But the Derbyshire version STILL sounds like it dropped out of a wormhole from another, more frightening and futuristic dimension. You're not going to better it any time soon, so admit defeat and bring it back! End of. 

As for the new titles - well, I approve of the homage to the classic series, a nice touch for the 50th anniversary year. They are a case of I can see what they are trying to do, but again I have to say - and yes, I know I will sound hopeless trapped in the past - but again, since 1980 they've been doing different titles sequences and all have looked inferior to the classic 'time tunnel' that debuted in Pertwee's last season and remained until Tom Baker's last. Like the Derbyshire theme, it was so ahead of its time, it still looks good now and really you're on a hiding to nothing doing something different really.

Not that they should use the old titles footage, but I feel that concept should be the blueprint on which modern titles sequences should be built. All the new series title sequences have flirted with the old time tunnel but then pranced about trying to be modern and do their own thing and it's not quite worked. It's time to stop being coy and use rebuilt on a blueprint drawn from the old sequence...

However it's not really a big deal - the new show changes the titles and theme mix on a regular basis. And so while I'm not particularly enamored with either of the latest version, I'm fairly sure they'll change again in the not to distant future.

We also have a new look console room. Now this latest TARDIS desktop theme I'm a bit unsure of as I really liked the last one. This one feels a bit too metallic and cold, but it may well grow on me and again, the new series has a habit of changing these things regularly anyway. I daresay I won't be giving it a second thought in two or three episodes' time.

So then, with all the new visuals remarked upon, what of the episode itself?

Well, it was good fun all in all. Not the greatest Who ever screened but then I wasn't really expecting that. For bearing out my Series-7- is-two-mini-seasons idea (see Doctor Who Series 7 - The Story So Far), The Bells of St. John felt like a series opener, and one with the job of embedding a new companion. Now yes, I know that we've already met Jenna-Lousie Coleman twice before, but they were different versions of that character, and the current one we meet here doesn't remember and/or know about those previous encounters with the Doctor. And hence this Clara needs to meet our favourite Time Lord and decide to travel with him.

Now as these sort of episodes go, it was rather nicely handled. Of course, as the purpose of the episode is to get the Doctor and his new companion together the story was, as I expected it would be, rather slight. However I would say that as thin as the actual plot was, it was a solid little mystery for the Doctor and Clara to unravel together and one that fitted the running time of the episode nicely, without feeling galloped through or suffering from an over-stuffed last ten minutes (two common stumbles in the modern show).


Needless to say Matt Smith was on good form as ever, however what of the new girl. Well, yes, she's very pretty and the whole mystery around her is intriguing. However we did really see much more of her character than we've already seen before. And I have to say, I am slightly worried that her fast-talking traits may well get a little irritating if the writers are just going to push the buttons marked 'snappy line' and 'sassy'. Time will tell.

However as we have met Clara, or rather other versions of her before, I did feel we needed to see a little more of personality than we actually got in this episode. The trouble is it that this was effectively the third introduction to the same girl. Of course, I appreciate that as the first episode of a fresh run of Who, it's seen as a jumping on point and therefore we need (allegedly) to have the character freshly established, and this episode did it nicely, however I did have a nagging feeling that perhaps a little less meet-and-greet and more heads down adventure would have been nice.

Unusually for Mr Moffat, the episode was all fairly straight forward stuff plot-wise. Now some have said that we got no real explanation of what the spoonheads and their master were really up to, or indeed why. But come on folks, this is a first episode and aside from firmly establishing the mystery over what is going on with Clara, Moffat is also seeding his story arc here. For example, I'll be very surprised if this is the last we've seen of U.N.I.T. this series - being an important part of the show's history, I fully expect that these Earthbound allies of the Doctor will play an important role in later stories, and we'll be seeing the Brigadier's daughter again.

But the big point here - and last chance to jump ship spoiler dodgers! - was the reveal that the Great Intelligence was behind it all. Now many felt, that Richard E Grant was under-used in The Snowmen, an opinion with which I concur. However, that seeming under-use started to make sense when The Great Intelligence appeared at this episode's close - the GI's appearance wasn't just a nod to old fans, it was the (re)introduction of a major foe. Clearly this old enemy from the Doctor's past is going to be a recurring problem in this series, if not the Big Bad itself! And I'm quite sure we'll learn what object of its schemes in this episode were in the coming weeks. Giving that the Doctor's second encounter with the Great Intelligence, the Web of Fear, introduced us to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and led to the formation of U.N.I.T., I imagine he/it may well be looking to settle an old score there too.

So then, while not an outstanding story, I think The Bells of St. John sowed some very interesting seeds for the coming series...

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

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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

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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

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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 7.03 - A Town Called Mercy

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Now I must confess that the prospect of this episode didn't exactly fill me with thrills, for several admittedly somewhat nebulous reasons. Firstly, much like dinosaurs, in the past Doctor Who hasn't had a lot of luck with the Old West. Somewhat surprisingly for a time travel based show, there's only been one previous TARDIS-powered foray into Western territory and that was back in the days of the First Doctor, William Hartnell. 

That adventure was The Gunfighters way back in 1966, and it was poorly received at the time that it led the production team to scrap the concept of doing straight historical stories shortly after. And while the Doctor would return to Earth's past many times over the years, usually there would be assorted alien tomfoolery to spice things up. However while monsters and robots would replace hobnobbing with famous historical figures, the TARDIS would never return to the Western again... until now. 

However I don't think this was purely down to The Gunfighters having such a poor rating with Who fans down the ages, who have often voted it one of the worst stories in the show's long history. Rather I think, it more to do with a certain tension between the Western and SF genres. Now while they have cross pollinated  successfully in the past on occasions, often they appear to rub each other up the wrong way - a perfect example of this being the recent dog dinner, I mean, movie, Cowboys Versus Aliens which despite being chock full of both cowboy and alien invasion tropes managed to fail as both a Western and a science fiction movie. And the problem is basically this, Westerns look to the past whereas SF looks to the future, hence any story mixing the two genres is often pulled into two contrary directions. And it's no coincidence that when the West and SF have worked together successfully, such as in Westworld or Outland, the stories have firmly favoured one set of tropes over the other, Westerns in the case of the former and SF in the latter.

Anyhow from the trailer for A Town Called Mercy, it wasn't clear how this adventure would play out, whether it would prove to be an uneasy mix or masterful blend. Although with the clips of a cybernetic gunslinger and a traditional shoot-out in front of the town clock, there was a distinct possibility this would be Who does Westworld. Now modelling your SF/Western hybrid on a previously successful venture is a smart move, however if it was too close to the original, it was going to look very derivative...

And also hanging in the balance for this episode was the fact it was penned by Toby Whithouse. Now previously I really enjoyed last series' The God Complex, and liked School Reunion well enough, but Vampires In Venice felt like a missed opportunity.

So then,with much much up the air for this story, and considering this is the mid-point story of this run of Who, I must confess I was expecting A Town Called Mercy to be *ahem* shall we say one of the least distinguished stories of the opening half of Series 7... Oh alright, I admit it, I thought it would die in the dust with fanboy critics measuring it for a cheap pine coffin by the halfway mark!

But as it turned out, it wasn't just a cheap clone of Westworld, nor was the story was ripped apart by different genres pulling in opposite directions like ornery mules, and above all I was very pleasantly surprised! We got a very cinematic episode with a decent balance of humour and drama and a very deft blend of SF and the West.

As a wise old SF bookstore owner of my acquaintance once remarked, often the essence of a good Doctor Who story is having the plot rooted in a huge moral dilemma. And oddly enough, that same ethical dynamic is at the heart of many a Western too. In the classic time periods for the Western; the frontier settlement and the Civil War eras, the law was weak or non-existent, what was right or socially acceptable was open to question, and this climate of moral relativism made for some great stories.

And here in A Town Called Mercy, it's the big ethical questions at the heart of the story that successfully bond together SF standards such as cyborgs, anachronistic technology and visiting aliens to equally familiar Western tropes such as gunslingers, US Marshalls, and shoot-outs under clapboard clocktowers. And it's well worth noting that Mr Whithouse has a lot of fun subverting such familiar elements, so we have many classic story ingredients, from both SF and Westerns, used in interesting ways.

Furthermore, while you might be expecting another romp of an adventure, another fun but throwaway story in this series of 'a blockbuster every week', this episode becomes more than just Matt Smith and co. rummaging through the Wild West dressing up box. Obviously as I'm keeping this spoiler-free, I can't go into details... but I will say there some unexpected character depths carefully and subtly explored here. Don't get me wrong, it's a very fun episode, but it's also a very interesting one too.

Now I appreciate the gulf between Westerns and scifi may so great for some viewers that they disappear into a cross genre limbo of dissatisfaction. Equally I acknowledge that for others the plot will seem slim and all the moral jiggery pokery I found fascinating will feel like filler. But that's Doctor Who for you - you can't please all the folks all the time!

But personally, I really enjoyed this one, despite have large reservations about it. And one of the things that stand out for me is that for once this was a story that didn't feel rushed. There was enough plot for the time slot and plenty room in the script to explore the ideas satisfyingly. It might not be be the flashiest episode with  lots of running, explosions, or massive story arc bombshells, but I think that the thoughtful nature of A Town Called Mercy will ensure it's going to more appreciated as time goes by.

DOCTOR WHO 6.12 - Closing Time

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So then, the end draws near! And as you'll probably know that this episode see the Doctor catching up with both an old friend, in the shape of Craig from last year's The Lodger and some old enemies, the Cybermen.

Now then, as we remarked last year, James Corden who plays Craig, is one of those members of the comedy fraternity that polarize opinion - people either want to cuddle him or hunt him down for his blubber. However as in The Lodger, Corden is on his best behaviour, putting in a restrained performance rather than doing that excitable shrieking that makes me want do him a severe physical discourtesy. Also back this episode is Daisy Haggard as Craig other half, Sophie, who again is charming loveliness walking on two very long legs. And completing the trilogy of returns, Gareth Roberts was back on script duties too.

And once again, he's delivered a rather lovely little story. Like  The Lodger, it's an episode filled with the right kind of witty humour and bags of heart, however Mr Roberts has upped his game again. Yes, we have the delightful double act antics between Smith and Corden, and once again Roberts shows he has a natural gift for writing Eleventh Doctor patter, however also this episode is shot through much darker shadows than The Lodger.

On one hand, we have some very sinister Cyber-antics, including a plot element that will delight the old school fans. And as the tale's threat, the Cybermen are rather well deployed - for although they are second only to the Daleks as recurring villains, they've not always the menace they could be. Let's face it, in the past Cyber master-plans have been known to be a bit, well, overly complicated...  Often to the point of stupidity. For example, the Cyberking in The Next Doctor might have looked cool but was it really the best use of their resources? And some forty years  on, no one yet has been able to adequately explain what the hell they were playing at in The Wheel in Space.

But this time round there's no such cyber-lunacy thankfully. They lurk and menace, and although the precredits sequence makes it clear that the threat of the week is Cyber-based, the story nicely follows the Doctor working out, piece by piece, clue by clue, what they are up to.

However the real darkness doesn't come from the silver giants, but the thread of melancholy running throughout the episode. Although there is plenty of fun to be had in the Doctor bantering with Craig and mingling with humanity again, there's a sense of time running out, as the fate we know  is waiting for the Doctor next week begins to cast a long sonorous shadow over this little adventure. And this is more than just  plot foreshadowing touches, the fact that this may be the Doctor's last house call is woven into the emotional fabric of the story. It's beautifully written and superbly played by Smith and Corden.

Now I do have a small niggle with this episode which I'll wont mention here. Partly as it's a big spoiler and also partly I'll have to watch this one again to be sure. However I will tackle this in the forthcoming spoiler zone review. Other than that though it's gold jammy dodgers all round for this outing!

Of course this episode comes with two implicit big questions. Firstly "Is this a stealth Part One of the series finale?" and secondly "Do we learn anymore about the connection between the Silence and that mysterious pseudo-TARDIS seen in the Lodger?".

But this being a spoiler-free review I can answer neither. However, let's just say that by the time the credits roll, there are plenty of pieces on game for next week's endgame...

DOCTOR WHO 6.10 - The Girl Who Waited

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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 6.08 - Let's Kill Hitler Spoiler Zone

So then somewhat belatedly - it's been one of those weeks folks! - here's the Spoilers Zone for Let's Kill  Hitler! The spoiler free review can be found here

Shh! Spoilers sweetie!

Well, the first thing to address is probably that title Let's Kill Hitler... Now contrary to expectations, this wasn't an episode exploring the age old time travel questions as the moral implications of killing a young Adolf before his rise to power or the consequences of messing about with historical time lines. Indeed, this story is actually rather Fuhrer-lite, and on reflection this is probably a good thing. 

For while there's acres of decent potential material for stories here, Doctor Who perhaps isn't the right arena for them. Certainly it would be ideal for a Big Finish audio or the old Virgin/BBC novels, but on the box on a Saturday tea-time not so much. Being a family orientated show and having an eccentric and often funny lead character, it would be difficult to explore the material properly, doing justice to the moral complexities and the horrors of the Third Reich without either appearing to make light of the very serious historical events or being accused of getting too dark and intricate for the younger viewers. 

So then, I think Moffat chose wisely to keep Hitler in the cupboard, and instead delivering a tale which nicely touches on the concepts of using time travel to right historical wrongs but mainly is about a very different time criminal, River Song. It's very much her origin story and surprisingly Moffat actually gives us a ton of answers. In the course of the episode we learn who the Silence actually are, why River doesn't regenerate when she died in Forest of the Dead, who taught her to fly the TARDIS and what may be truth about a very old fan bugbear temporal grace. And there's more tidbits revealed too but we'll get to them later.

So then alot of reveals here, tying up a great many dangling threads, which should please all those fretting that Series  6 has been getting rather continuity heavy. Now the second half looks to be clear to build up to concluding the question of what really happens with the Doctor's apparent death at Lake Silencio. 

Of course, this being Doctor Who, a show whose format allows it tell many different sorts of stories in diverse tones, as always you're not going to please all of the people all of the time. For while some will applaud the batty cocktail of thrills, drama and comedy packed into Let's Kill Hitler, others will be left cold by the romping nature of the story. 

Now personally, I tend to think that new Who has tended to over-egg the comedy pudding, something that Moffat has largely reined in a bit. However, not always and this episode is one of those occasions, hence some will love it as a return to the over the top shennigans of the RTD era, and other loathe it for precisely the same reasons. 

And I must to confess to being slight conflicted on the matter myself. On one hand, if you're going to be a romp, you might as well really let rip and be outrageously daft as Let's Kill Hitler. For example, I loved the Teselecta which managed to be both a sly dig at the pompous moralising of some incarnations of Star Trek and also a homage to  The Numbskulls a comedy comic strip about a man who was piloted by the titular little fellas living in his head, appearing first in The Beezer and later The Beano. And quick-fire quippage from all the regular cast was comedy gold. All in all, if you're going over the top, do it in style!

Now largely Moffat managed to keeps the balance pitched so that the fun didn't detract from the drama and keep the plotting tight. However on the downside, there was a few instances where I felt the writing was so hurried that key plot points weren't explained enough. Now after a second watch, I'm convinced this isn't a case of Moffat taking a soiled leaf out of RTD's books and papering over plot holes and logical gaps with some big shiny spectacle. I think it's more a case of shoving so much into the episode, a couple of issues didn't quite get enough dialogue or screen-time to give them the correct dramatic weight. 

Firstly, I'm thinking specifically of the climax, where River decides to switch sides and/or break her Silence conditioning and the business of how she saves the Doctor. For although her change of heart was seeded, I don't think there was enough on screen for her change of heart to be properly convincing. Or alternatively, there was enough there but it was smothering by everything else the plot was doing. 

As for her giving up her remaining regenerations to save our hero, I can buy that in her post regenerative state she could channel the energy into the Doctor to heal him. However I honestly think we needed a line or two more to make this seem at little less than a deus ex machina. Just having River say 'I'm still regenerating you know' after she says 'I'm trying to help' would have made everything clearer and more credible.

Now all of this did have me wondering whether it was wise to try and cram so much into the episode. However I can forgive these missteps as on the whole the story was just so much fun and so bold in it's storytelling. Highly enjoyable but the niggles do mean it misses the classic adventure mark. 

But while we're on the subject of regeneration, there's been much speculation that just as River could shrug off the Nazi bullets, this is how Moffat will get the Doctor out of his death by Astronaut. Well, this theory doesn't actually work as this super healing only occurs AFTER a physical regeneration - it's a feature of the post regenerative cycle as The Christmas Invasion makes clear. Hence the Doctor would have had to transformed into his 12th body and the new incarnation be 'still cooking'  to be able to negate damage in this way.

Furthermore, the crew of the Teselecta state that the Doctor's death at Lake Silencio is a fixed point in time - it cannot be changed and hence would suggest that there can be no contradiction of the death as we've seen it. In last week's Radio Times feature, Mr Moffat himself writes in the introduction to the coming batch of adventures -

We all saw it happen - his final moments, the failed regeneration, the body in the burning boat. No hope, no escape, no excuses: we have seen the future and the Doctor is not going to survive it.

 And you what, I think he means it!

Now obviously the Doctor is going to survive by some means... but how? Is that chap we saw die the Ganger Doctor? Unlikely as he didn't dissolve to white fleshy goo. Is it the Teselecta? Also unlikely as despite its powers of mimicry, this time traversing Numbskull vechicle wasn't exactly adept at acting naturally - this robot had trouble not moving in a jerky mechanical fashion, so it's hard to believe it could replace the Doctor convincingly enough to fool Amy, Rory and River... Hang on, could it be the Teselecta piloted by the Ganger Doctor?!?

Well that's a possibility! However considering this series is the second chapter in a story line that started in Moffat's first season, and what next year's series is going to be is shrouded in mystery but certainly appears that it will be building up to the big 50th anniversary in 2013,  I suspect that there won't be a simple get-out to the Doctor's impending death.

So then we know that the Doctor will die as we've seen. And this episode tell us that River is indeed wanted for his murder. However is that why she's in prison in the Stormcage Facility? And is it her younger self in the space suit that rises from the Lake in Utah?

However as Moffat has shown in this outing, he's not adverse to giving out answers before the very end. And no doubt he's got more surprises still stuck up his capacious sleeves...

DOCTOR WHO 6.01 - The Impossible Astronaut

Scanners indicate an absence of spoilers!

Once again dear friends, it’s that time again – a brand spanking new season of Doctor Who. And having just watched the The Impossible Astronaut I’m beginning to doubt the sense in this little plan…

Things were always going to be different this year. Aside from the usual intrigues as to what the new season would deliver, there are big structural changes to the series. If you don’t already know, the deal is this – instead of the usual thirteen episodes, this year the season is being split into two halves. So the series that commenced tonight will run for seven episodes until the 4th of June and then return in the autumn (currently pencilled in for September) to air the remaining six.

Now I for one welcomed this plan with open arms. Firstly now there’s a much shorter gap between appearances of new episodes, and secondly we get Doctor Who screening when the nights are drawing in. When RTD resurrected the series, obviously no one could foresee that this hoary old series would go on become the flagship show for BBC1, and therefore it was given the slot in the annual scheduling it has held for the past half decade, spring to summer – a time when audience figures are dropping due to lighter nights, better weather and all manner of holidays tempting folk away for the idiot lantern.

But considering the rating hit the travels in the TARDIS are these days, it’s been long overdue that Doctor Who should move to airing in the cosier, more audience friendly, autumn slot. And besides the frequent outbreaks of spookiness and general weirdness are somehow better suited to being seen on a dark evening when mists are rolling in and the wind is just beginning to howl around the chimney pots.

However as pleasing as all of the above is, what really intrigued me about the change in scheduling policy, was the effect it was going to have on the structure of the series and its story arcs. As regular viewers will know, Steven Moffat is a very devious writer and he meticulously plans this plots. Although we didn’t suspect exactly how devious he or how far reaching his tales were until he took the helm of the series last year and we discovered the “Silence will fall” arc had actually begun with a brace of episodes he wrote for the Tenth Doctor (Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead). So then rather just plan out the usual thirteen episode pattern and screen in it two chunks, you can bet that Moffat is now running a game of two halves scheme, with two series finales in one season effectively.

Now in times past, we’d grown used to the first episode of a season being a light and frothy affair where the story takes a back seat. For every opener so far has had the task of introducing some one new: in Rose we met the Ninth Doctor and …er … well Rose, in New Earth we were bedding in the Tenth, and in Smith & Jones and Partners in Crime we saw the Doctor finding new companions, Martha Jones and Donna Noble. However this time round, the TARDIS crew - Eleventh Doctor, Amy And Rory - were already firmly in place.

So then with this in mind, I was hoping that The Impossible Astronaut would see the show returning firing on all cylinders, rather than gradually revving up the engine as it had to in previous years. And indeed considering that this is the first half of a two part story from Mr Moffat himself, the cloister bell was reassuringly silent and the portents looked good for this to be the case.

Now my usual policy for reviewing two parters last year was to cover both parts at once, as there seemed little point in review half an adventure and getting knotted up in speculation as to how the complete tale would play out. However as we were kicking off the season with a two parter, I thought some sort of taster review was in order…

…But I have a massive problem The Impossible Astronaut - relax, it’s not terrible! Quite the contrary in fact.

The trouble is I can’t really tell you anything without giving something away. The Impossible Astronaut? The Impossible Review more like!

Well that’s not entirely true (yes Rule #1 about the Doctor also applies to me now), but you probably already know it’s set in, and indeed was shot in, America, features the President being harassed by spooky phone calls and a creepy looking alien in a black suit.

And I could also tell you that Matt Smith is brilliant as ever, but that’s a given really isn’t it?Considering all the hullabaloo about his casting and about how young he was, weird isn’t it how now when he’s the Doctor you completely believe his nearly a thousand years old…

What else? Well, this is a good outing for Amy and Rory; Karen Gillan gets plenty of solid dramatic scenes to get her teeth into and Arthur Davrill feels like a proper member of the crew and not just a boyfriend dragged along for a couple of stories. And of course, even if you’ve taken up Venusian aikido to spoiler dodge for the last few months, you’re probably aware that River Song is back. And she’s as brilliant as ever. And it's a credit to Moffat's writing that he can balance such a large TARDIS crew and still find enough opportunities for a ll the characters to shine.

The American locations look gorgeous as does the sets. And there’s a bona fide guest star who will be very familiar to viewers of genre TV. But I’m not saying who - let’s just say that it’s a real delight to see them, on top form as usual, in Doctor Who!

And finally, I can confirm that the show has hit the ground running. Easily the best series debut instalment we’ve had since the show’s return and even a contender for best opening episode in all the show’s history. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of a better opening episode of any series right now.

And you can take that as a full committed recommend! Dodge the spoilers and go in fresh if you can!

So then, we will pick this up in proper detail next week…

...And what a long week it shall be!

And on that note we’ll let silence fall…

DOCTOR WHO 5.12/13 - The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang

Spoilers will fall!

(Apologies for any typos but this was written at high speed after the credits rolled! And I'll probably revise this after I've had some more time to reflect on it...)

Well it’s been a glorious three and a bit months, but all good things must come to an end. This series of Doctor Who has had many mountains to climb; a new production team and, more importantly, a new Doctor have all had to win viewers’ hearts. And for my money, Moffat and Smith have largely succeeded; we’ve had a season that has been the most solid yet – true not every story is a gold plated classic, but across the board the stories have been stronger, the writing tighter and the budget better spent. However the final test remains – can this series deliver a truly satisfying grand finale?

Previously the pattern generally has been a great set up followed by an irritating conclusion. And largely this has been due to Russell T Davies being on script duties; while he has many strengths as a writer, delivering proper conclusion that make sense has always been something of a weak spot for him. Even before he landed the job of bring back Doctor Who, his previous work showed this; indeed my main reservations on hearing he was going to take the wheel of the good ship Who was that I’d found the endings to Queer As Folk and The Second Coming deeply unsatisfying affairs that didn’t do justice to the exemplary scripting of the rest of the shows. And unfortunately his Who finales have been more of the same, hammering the reset button with a huge deus ex machine and serving up sentiment and spectacle in lieu of any proper narrative sense.

However Steven Moffat is a very different kettle of Saturnyians, and this can be clearly seen from the way in he has approached not just the finale but the plotting of the series’ on-going storyline. While the Cracks appearing in most episodes (and in the real universe too it would seem) has been similar to the old RTD method – i.e. drop in a reference (e.g. ‘bad wolf’, ‘torchwood’) and call it an story arc – there has been a lot more going on to that ties all the episodes together and to brings us to the finale. To begin there have been other recurring motifs; the talk of perception filters and the appearance of the First Doctor, but more importantly there has been a greater sense of continuity between the stories, with the consequences of the previous adventure visible in the next.

All in all, rather than the anthology of adventures that have a few hints of the series end we have previously received, this series actually possesses a proper over arching plot. The extended opening sequence of The Pandorica Opens makes this clear – and I’m sure that like myself, many of you readers took the hint and have been rewatching the previous episodes this week. And what a rewarding experience that has proved to be – there are lots of clues and thematic goodies to pick up on; we have numerous references to fairy tales, the Doctor and boxes, how time may be rewritten and a running thread that there is something very wrong with Amy Pond’s life.

Now, true to form, the opening part of the finale was a cracker, full of surprises and building up to a massive three pronged cliff hanger. When the credits rolled we have the Doctor imprisoned, Amy dying and all the stars in the universe going nova. Better still though, there was no ‘Next Time’ trailer and the teasers that surfaced later in the week consisted solely of shots from what we had already seen. Fan speculation on the interwebs went crazy with all manner of bizarre theories being debated – is River Song a future incarnation of the Doctor? Or is she the Doctor’s daughter now grown up? Or does Amy grow up to be River Song? Plus everybody has been wondering about the mysterious voice heard in the TARDIS – is it Davros, Omega, The Beast, Sutekh or some other big bad from Who history or just an echo of Prisoner Zero?

But although it’s been fun to explore such speculations, another running theme of this series has been misdirection and so when the credits for The Pandorica Opens rolled, the only firm prediction I was willing to make would be that The Big Bang is going to deliver surprises that few will have seen coming… However having rewatched several episodes, I was fairly sure that we would be revisiting some scenes for a second time and I was praying that the issue of the returning jacket in Flesh and Stone wouldn’t just turn out to be a continuity error…

Right then so how did everything pan out in the end? Well for me, The Big Bang nicely resolved the situation that The Pandorica Opens had set up. While some may say the concept of rebooting the universe from the restoration field is a little on the rabbit from the hat side of plotting, but really we knew he was going to do it somehow and it would have to involve a plot device that verges on the magical. But the arcane properties of the Pandorica technology are neither here nor there, the key thing is how it was utilised in the tale itself. And on that front, this finale gets a pass, for rather than a quick reset button at the end that undoes everything that has gone before - Last of the Time Lords I AM looking at you - as this particular restoration is carefully worked up to throughout the episode. Everything that has happened, stays happened, and it comes at the cost of the Doctor’s place in history.

Of course he doesn’t get erased, and the solution to this other dilemma had been seeded throughout the preceding dozen episodes. And this is why this finale was so satisfying - it wasn’t just a last big, high octane adventure to end on, it was the conclusion of the entire series, of all the hints and motifs that had been built up over the last three months.

As I’ve said before this has been a very solid series in terms of quality, but as it turns out this run of episodes actually fits together beautifully into one huge narrative. It has been so dexterously plotting that I’m really looking forward to watching it all in sequence now, as there will be lots we missed or didn’t realise were as relevant as they’ve turned out to be. For example, I’m seeing the end of Victory of the Daleks - namely the power of Bracewell’s memories - in a whole new light now.

Alright we didn’t the answers to the questions of who River Song actually is or the enigmatic Voice and Silence, nor was there anything about perception filters or the First Doctor. But I half expected that some things would be left unsolved - the level of detail in the plotting of this series led me to believe that some of the hints in this series would be Moffat laying down the beginnings of future plot lines. After all, in many ways the plot arc of this series actually begins in Tennant’s last series with his Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead episodes.

But this series has been more than just a story arc, for as well as the plot points, there has been character development and an almost literary approach to the themes in the stories - Moffat hasn’t just been telling stories but reflecting on their importance, on the value of fairy tales and fables, of imagination and on the stories we chose to tell ourselves.

DOCTOR WHO 5.11 - The Lodger

Now remember what we were saying last week about putting aside prejudices… Well if anything the ability to separate an individual’s past from the episode's content seems more relevant than ever this week. James Corden has developed into a Marmite figure – you either love him with a passion or hate him with a vengeance. Certainly the early near universal goodwill he reaped from Gavin & Stacy has been somewhat tempered by a poor sketch show (Corden & Horne), a frequently reviled movie outing (Lesbian Vampire Killers), and a string of irritating personal appearances which culminated last week in a nasty spat with Sir Patrick Stewart (see here for the entire cringe inducing debacle). Hence The Lodger turns up on our doorsteps with an entire entourage of porters in tow to deliver the baggage, and a good third of the assorted trunks and cases being freshly packed additions to the freight post-Stewart.

Now personally, I have no real love for Corden. I’ve found him annoyingly hyper in his guest appearances in other shows, and been largely indifferent to the charms of Gavin & Stacy.I watched the first couple when they aired on BBC 3, thought they were ok but didn’t grab me enough to ensure further viewing. And hence I was somewhat surprised when some time later the nation seemed to take the show to its heart – in the words of the late great Bill Hicks – “Did I miss a meeting?”

However, no good deed goes unpunished in this parish, and while I personally didn’t fall in love with the show, I can appreciate the quality of the series, with Corden doing a sterling job on the writing and performing well, hitting the right notes between comedy and drama. And thankfully it was this incarnation of Corden that turned up for duty on this week’s Doctor Who, and consequently I had no problems with either his performance or ignoring my high personal bugbears with the man himself. His Craig played very well against both Matt Smith’s Doctor and Daisy Haggard’s Sophie.

Also returning to Who this week was another guaranteed fan divider, Gareth Roberts. Now Roberts writes fun Doctor Who; the likes of The Shakespeare Code and The Unicorn and the Wasp he’s not going for heavy sci-fi or child traumatising scares but just to romp around pressing the button marked fun. While he might not be serving up the most weighty adventures, his stories have been entertaining. And The Lodger is no different, but I would say it is the most polished of his episodes so far. The romance in the story line may well have been quite predictable, but the characters were handled with warmth and charm, and the way he wove together the parallel plot threads of the mystery of upstairs and the Craig/Sophie relationship showed a greater degree of sophistication than his previous outings.

So far, so good, but I did have a major niggle with this episode – the psychic head butting. Yes, it was funny and I don’t have a problem with that in itself. What bothered me was that this was another instance of a writer suddenly inventing a new power for the Doctor. Yes, the show is within its rights to add and reveal new facets of the Doctor, but really the script editors should come down hard to on a writer that produces a new ability like a rabbit from a hat to plug a hole in the plot. Especially when these abilities are going to be a one shot deal – seen once and then never used again and leaving unnecessary clutter in the character’s continuity. And often these novelty super powers, like the ability to mentally transfer information as seen in the The Lodger, makes the viewer wonder why the Doctor hasn’t used them before in his myriad previous travels.

Now the RTD era was very bad for this, inventing powers left, right and centre. And Gareth Roberts has previous form in this field; in The Unicorn and the Wasp, he informs us that Time Lords can synthesise antidotes to toxins given the ingestion of the right ingredients. Like the head butting in The Lodger the scene was written to raise a few laughs but unlike this week’s episode, having an inbuilt toxicologist as part of your digestive system isn’t an ability that comes to the fore often. However being able to explain and impart masses of information with a quick Glasgow kiss would have been very bloody usefully in many of the Doctor’s previous adventures.

Now it has previously been well established that the Time Lords do possess psychic powers that mere mortals do not. Back on Gallifrey, all Time Lords share a mental link, and the TARDIS itself possesses telepathic circuits which allow it to meld to a certain degree with its pilot and crew, allowing the handy instant translation service as well as protecting its occupants from the physical stresses of time travel as mentioned in this episode.

So my issue here is that rather than inventing a new hitherto unbelievably handy ability, one so useful as to make the viewer question its authenticity, surely some technical lash-up involving the ear piece the Doctor uses to communicate with Amy would have better served the logic of the on-going narrative of the series. You could have still had the comedy but you wouldn’t have rankled fools like myself who probably give too much of a toss about the continuity.

That said though, it wasn’t a deal breaker for this episode. And although my inner fanboy was growling, the flashes of the previous old school Doctors did help balance the internal geek scales. I must say I do like the fact that this series is acknowledging the show’s long history a lot more and far more explicitly than its predecessors. And I do wonder whether the repeated cameos of the likes of Hartnell and Troughton are something more than just a subtle way of alerting younger viewers to the show’s illustrious past.

However while still on matters of plot logic and exposition, some reviewers have been a little irritated that there wasn’t more explanation of the origins of the time ship. However personally, I thought it was a refreshing change not to have the Doctor instantly recognise it; it’s good to have a mystery now and again that isn’t just explained away in a causal ‘oh it’s a MacGuffin class warp vessel from the Basil Nebula in the Exposition galaxy’ fashion. And while this rogue time craft offers all possibilities for future stories to reveal its ancestry, I can happily live with it remaining an enigma, with the questions of why it appears so TARDIS-like in appearance hanging tantalizingly up in the air. Of course, the two part finale may shed some further light on the matter… but I wouldn’t bet on it. And if the television series never alludes to the mystery craft again, eventually some book, comic or audio will come along and explain a little more.



In the meantime though, many long-time Who fans have remarked on the ship’s similarity to the Jagaroth vessel seen in the Tom Baker outing City of Death. And if you have a look at the picture reproduced below, they are not a million miles away design wise, I’m sure you’ll agree. Now for those of you who haven’t seen this story, or can only remember Lalla Ward dressed up as a school girl, the relevant facts are as follows…



The Jagaroth although familiar with the concepts, were not a time travelling species. However during a civil war in the distant past when the Earth was still young, their ship (as seen above) exploded due to a warp engine failure. This resulted in the engines operator Scaroth, being thrust into the Time Vortex and splintered into twelve different sub selves that were scattered throughout Earth’s history. Now as these events took place some 4 billion years ago, it is not unlikely to assume that in later ages, that having noted the effects of this warp malfunction, the Jagaroth have come closer to mastering time travel technology. And hence the ship seen in The Lodger could be an early lost prototype.

It’s not much of an explanation and ultimately will probably proved wrong, but if you really need one it’s as good as you’re going to get for now! So back to the episode in hand…

The Lodger started life as a comic strip in Doctor Who Magazine #368. This was a one-off story centred on the Tenth Doctor staying with Mickey Smith and naturally changed a great deal when it evolved into the current episode. The basic concept, exploring the Doctor flat sharing with an ordinary bloke remained the same, but the dynamics changed considerably with a different Doctor. Now some commentators have questioned why living normally among humans was such as challenge for the Eleventh Doctor, pointing out that previous Doctors – most notably the Third who was exiled to Earth – had no such problems. But the key thing here is that different Doctors have different personalities – and some are better tuned to playing along with our social mores than others. While the Pertwee Doctor was quite assured in human company, the Fourth would struggle to play along if forced into a domestic situation; and Matt Smith’s Doctor is very much in the same eccentric alien mould as the Fourth. But also he demonstrates a Troughton-like twist of calculatedly acting the clown to mask his real activities and nature in this episode, as well as Seventh Doctor secret eye of the bigger picture – all of which suggests to me that he wasn’t struggling as much as it may first appear.

However what I would perhaps question is the placement of this story in the series. As it was such a showcase for Matt Smith to explore his Doctor’s personality maybe it would have made more sense to schedule this story earlier in the season. However you could see this story as just a palate cleanser before the big two part ending; certainly that would fit with this episode’s light tone - making it a sorbet story if you will.

But that said, we’ve not seen the finale yet. This series has had a far greater sense of continuity than previous seasons and while it may seem that The Lodger, bar its coda, is not advancing the Cracks story arc, there is still a lot of thematic threads been added to here. For example, we have perceptions filters name checked again, and the theme of how we see things featuring heavily once more. Plus we have more references to early Doctors and a story that underlines how well the Doctor really actually does understand human relationships. And this last point is perhaps more crucial than it first appears, especially considering how the episode ends with Amy discovering Rory’s ring. Hence while it may not be adding to the details of the plot arc, it would seem that The Lodger is establishing character points that will make more sense once we see the finale - which would explain why its placement here.

But sorbet or not, and niggles aside, I enjoyed this episode; its sense of delight was quite infectious and the performances from our main trio was spot on. It was nice to see Matt Smith get a chance to really revel in the role, Corden was genuinely likeable here, and Daisy Haggard (daughter of Blood On Satan’s Claw director Piers Haggard fact fans) was wonderful as ever. This comic actress has always impressed me, she has great range and it’s high time she got a star vehicle of her own.

While The Lodger may be froth, it was a romp done right. So far this series has been an incredible run of stories, and while not all have been definite classics, equally there have no real dogs either. On the whole, with Moffat at the reins standards have been raised across the board and now all we need to make it the best series so far of new Who is a satisfying finale that ties up all the threads…