TV Review: Doctor Who Series 10 Episode Twelve - "The Doctor Falls"

"It’s Where We’ve Always Been Going, And It’s Happening Now, Today. It’s Time To Stand With The Doctor..."

Three years after venturing into my local cinema in order to witness the first ever Peter Capaldi led Doctor Who episode in the form of "Deep Breath", the brilliantly creepy yet somewhat divisive opening for the Twelfth Doctor, here we are reviewing the final ever regular series episode featuring perhaps my favourite incarnation of the travelling time lord since Jon Pertwee. How time flies. With the brilliance of last week's episode setting the basis for the overall narrative of "The Doctor Falls", what we have this week is a melancholic, fan-pleasing conclusion to a series which although lacked the consistency and sometimes perfection of Series Nine, was a solidly effective run, one which tapped into the classic sense of what a show such as Doctor Who truly offers and one which gave us some flashing moments of what we are set to miss after Capaldi's tenure is ultimately over. Whereas last week's episode was flawed somewhat by a ridiculous need from the BBC to over-publicise the high-profile events before the episode even aired, the twists and turns this week were more than effective, using a face from the past in the episode's concluding moments to emphasise truly the wondrous nature of the greatest science fiction series ever.

Whilst the body-horror infliction of the Mondasian Cybermen from last week's episode completely evaporates in favour of more daring set pieces and screen-filling explosions, their usage is still incredibly eerie, particularly within the scene in which the effects flick back and forth between the Mondasian Bill and the human Bill, building on a characterisation period throughout the series which has seen Pearl Mackie come forth as perhaps one of the standout companions of the modern era. With plot threads and series long arcs being put to bed, including the resolution of the Master/Missy timeline, the finale truly belongs to Peter Capaldi's performance, one which mixes the inevitably of death from Peter Davison's regeneration story "The Caves of Androzani" alongside the reluctance of passing from Tennant's change-up during "The End of Time", and boy does it pull on the heartstrings. Whereas many have seen Capaldi's tenure as a mixed bag of ups and downs in terms of consistency, I believe the past few years have seen the first real classic interpretation of the Doctor since the Tom Baker years and with the Christmas special to come alongside a very, very special guest, one can and can't wait for the Christmas special, an episode which although will see the end of a superb Doctor will also offer the opportunity to perhaps see Capaldi at his finest. See you in five months.

Overall Episode Score: 9/10

Overall Season Score: 7.4/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series 10 Episode Eleven - "World Enough and Time"

"Just Promise Me One Thing. Just Promise You Won't Get Me Killed..."

One of the most obvious and thrilling elements of this week's episode of Doctor Who was the surreal and reckless sense of abandon which show-runner Steven Moffat clearly has come to terms with, with the talented, and sometimes controversial, scribe clearly at a stage in which he sure well knows his time, much like Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, is coming to an explosive climax, and with "World Enough and Time", Moffat has successfully created a finale first act which ticks all the boxes in regards to what I personally look for in all the classic Doctor Who stories. Suspense. Threat. Horror. Three key elements that usually end up in creating some damn fine science fiction, and whilst the rather annoying pre-release press storms have felt it necessary to show off a rafter of key details and spoilers before the episode even aired, "World Enough and Time" is still undeniably and far and away the best episode of Series 10 so far, and with twists and shifts which set the battleground for next week's explosive finale, it too has the potential to become the definitive Moffat/Capaldi exploration of the famous Time Lord.

Within the episode's many successes, the return of the Mondasian Cybermen is an absolute stroke of genius. Whilst the 21st century incarnations of the famous Who foe have never really managed to get the characterisation and fear factor bang on, the utterly insidious look of the classic era baddies results in "World Enough and Time" genuinely being one of the most terrifying episodes of Doctor Who in years, with the body-horror type sets in which they are painfully hooked up to an unknown liquid harking back to not only the gas-mask people in "The Doctor Dances" but looking too like something out of a classic horror movie convention. The threatening nature of the Mondasian Cybermen aside, the inevitable links between the fate of the First Doctor within "The Tenth Planet", an episode which featured the very first appearance of the Cybermen on Mondas, and Capaldi's current incarnation are inevitable, particularly when regeneration energy is so clearly seen to be seeping out of our beloved hero. Overall, "World Enough and Time" is an excellent episode of Doctor Who, and whilst the episode would have been better served to be left to its' own devices in terms of unravelling its' secrets itself, grab the popcorn and get ready for a concluding piece next week which so clearly needs to keep to the standards set so far. Oh, and John Simm though.

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series 10 Episode Six - "Extremis"

"You Seem Like A Man With Regret On His Mind..."

When the opening titles roll and the words, "written by Steven Moffat" appear upon the screen amidst whirling noises of theremins and the eyebrows of the Twelfth Doctor, the unwitting desire to wonder whether the next 45 minutes will either be in the camp of superb recent episodes such as "Blink", "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" and "Heaven Sent" or in the not-so-good area of stories such as "The Beast Below" and "The Bells of Saint John". Whilst Capaldi does seem to get the best out of Moffat's writing, due in part to an acting ability above the levels of which the mind can comprehend, this week's episode, "Extremis", is ultimately a lesser beast than the masterpieces Who fans have been treated to over the years but still a mindbogglingly brave and adventurous episode, the type of which is determined for the die-hard Who fans to watch much more than once in order to understand its' complete complexities and impact on the season's overall narrative endgame. Acting as a pre-cursor to the continuation of the story next week, "Extremis" answers an abundance of questions that have arisen from the series so far and unlike previous episodes, is a story primarily dedicated solely to Peter Capaldi's Doctor, something of which is rarely a missed opportunity. 

With an episode which veers everywhere from the Vatican to the Oval Office, "Extremis" is an interesting experimental episode of Doctor Who which takes ques from previous episodes such as "Dark Water/Death In Heaven" in regards to the use of artificial intelligence and the notion of the finality of death not exactly coming full circle, whilst the episode's main antagonists seem to cross wardrobes between the titular mummy from "Mummy on the Orient Express" and the Order of the Headless from "A Good Man Goes to War", exposing skinless fingers from intergalactic portals and conveying their desires through a whispered tone of eeriness. At the centre of the narrative is the Veritas, a supposed cursed text which leads to the death of anyone who reads it and whilst the twist and importance of this particular element is definitely something of which I can safely say I didn't see coming, it is hard to review "Extremis" as a singular episode because of the ambiguity of the ultimate conclusion which awaits us within the coming weeks. What "Extremis" does boast however is a interestingly spooky script and enough fan-pleasing elements to keep the majority of its' audience hyped for what's to come, even with the rather anti-climactic resolution of who indeed was the guest of the Doctor's sacred vault. 

Overall Score: 8/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Two "The Witch's Familiar"

"Anyone For Dodgems?"

The fundamental strangeness to this years' two-part opener of Doctor Who stems from the notion that it feels way too much like a series finale, something of which can't be said of any of the eight series' previous of NuWho, with the return of "arch-nemesis" Davros being one the most shocking and unexpected characters to return this early on in the series. Where "The Magician's Apprentice" essentially allowed the audience to witness the return of the Doctor this year in proper rock n' roll fashion with a heap of effective buildup and plot development, "The Witches' Familiar" takes a whole step further by delving deeper into the relationship between two contrasting couples; Missy and Clara and Davros and The Doctor, whilst continuing to play on the established riffs set years earlier of genocide and choice in the Tom Baker serial "Genesis of the Daleks". Where last years' series finale double-header of "Dark Water" and "Death In Heaven" started off brilliantly yet ultimately fizzled out by the time of its' conclusion, the start to this years' series has been a brilliant and welcome return for The Doctor, with "The Witch's Familiar" not falling behind its' predecessor at all and instead wholly surpassing it.

Within the depths of greatness present in "The Witch's Familiar" lies ultimately, a fantastic lead performance from Capaldi as The Doctor, who surely now has shrugged off the little criticism he had at the start of his tenure and has taken to his new persona with aplomb. Not only does Capaldi address both the darker and lighter sides of the Doctor better than possibly any before him, (with Ecclestone a close second) with scenes of sheer hatred towards Davros being contrasted with scenes of a much more comedic nature, particularly when Davros' mode of transport is duly repossessed, much to the audience's and the Doctor's enjoyment. Not only does Capaldi shine, but so too does the return of Julian Bleach, whose portrayal of Davros surely must rank as one of the greatest of all time in the mythology of Doctor Who, with the scene in which tears and compassion trick the Doctor into helping his evil plans being wholly majestic from start to finish. 

In terms of the overall layout for the season, the organic plot point of the Doctor's involvement in a supposed Time Lord/Dalek hybrid automatically grabbed my attention, with the reasoning for the Doctors' departure from Gallifrey perhaps being the reaction to such, a storyline that is inevitably set to be expanded upon over the course of the next couple of months or so, whilst the foreshadowing of Clara's imminent departure surely must have been played upon during the heartbreaking scene in which she attempted to stop the Doctor from killing her when inside the Dalek (a hark back to "Planet of the Daleks"), a scene in which had a range of different symbolic interpretations ranging from Clara's first appearance in "Asylum of the Daleks", to the underlying genetic makeup of the Daleks and their quest for hatred rather than compassion. "The Witch's Familiar" ultimately proved that two-part Doctor Who serials are not wholly dead and buried, setting up the series with a bang and reviving everyone's love for the most famous time-travelling madman. 

Overall Score: 9/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode One "The Magician's Apprentice"

Enemies Reunited

After a wholly unbearable wait of almost nine and a half months, Doctor Who has finally returned to our screens with the wonderful Peter Capaldi reprising his role as the 12th (13th or 14th depending on your own POV) Doctor with trusty Jenna Coleman keeping her place as loving assistant Clara Oswald, albeit for the time being with it being confirmed that she is set to leave the programme at the end of the series. Her departure will be examined at a much later date but for now, the return of Doctor Who featured everything you could possibly desire from a programme that even in its' ninth season since its' return in 2005 is running strong and arguably, is better than ever, with the overly dark, adult tones prominent in series 8 being continued upon, with themes of genocide, child killing, and regret all resulting in "The Magician's Apprentice" being a booming, if rather eerie, return for the Doctor and his TARDIS.

When a programme such as Doctor Who has been running for longer than half a century, certain plot threads and storylines are inevitably going to either end up tangled up in knots or re-visited, something of which can be said of "The Magician's Apprentice", an episode that borrows heavily from themes first presented in Tom Baker's classic episode, "Genesis of the Daleks", a story in which the Doctor is sent back to Skaro by his fellow Time Lords in order to prevent the creation of the Daleks from ever occurring, yet instead of simply hiding from such, series nine's opening episode takes one step further from the Fourth Doctor's attempts by asking the question whether the Doctor would kill the creator of the Daleks if he met him as a child? The revelation of Davros in the opening scene in which the creepy, yet rather brilliant hand-mines are the cause of almost certain death for the young creator of the Daleks was simply excellent particularly if you, like me, refrained from spoiler-tastic Twitter feeds and journalists who stupidly revealed the return of one of the Doctor's biggest enemies before the episode's launch.

Of course, Peter Capaldi is excellent as the aging Time Lord running from the threat of Davros' hate, whilst the rather anti-climactic return of Michelle Gomez as Missy sought to highlight the rather bonkers approach she has taken to the role of the Master who even through their many battles, still remains one the Doctor's oldest friends, evident with Missy receiving the last will and testament of the Doctor, something of which was not sent to Clara, much to her distaste. If their are problems with the episode, these include the rather overlong guitar-wielding scene, and the cringe-worthy, almost wooden performance of Jemma Redgrave as UNIT Director Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, but with these being swiftly looked over, "The Magician's Apprentice" is a solid return for the Twelfth Doctor, with the return of Davros being a rather unexpected bonus resulting in an eagerly anticipated climax to the story which is set to air this coming Saturday. Welcome back, Doctor Who!

Overall Score: 8/10