Doctor Who Series 7 reviews: The Power Of Three

I've already written at length about Chris Chibnall and his popularity with fandom in my review of Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. I got the impression this time around that much of the online community had exhausted themselves two weeks earlier and so this episode was preceeded with a more lacklustre dismissal. This is a good thing; we should all judge the episodes on their own merits rather than by our own preconceptions and blinkered opinions - which is why I will normally watch each episode at least twice before reviewing it to try to avoid being too reactionary.

I've watched The Power of Three thrice to date. Unlike the first three episodes, I've enjoyed this slightly less each time I've watched it - which I find rather curious. There is, however, plenty to like:
The regulars: it's good to have an episode centred around Amy and Rory for a change, particularly when they've been sidelined a bit over the last two weeks. Matt Smith is normally pretty damn good anyway and it's not easy to single out individual episodes from a performance perspective (scenes yes, but usually not whole episodes), but this week he was on scintillating form throughout.
Jemma Redgrave is pure class as Kate (Lethbridge-) Stewart, with a performance of effortless brilliance. Casting an actress of her stature was a real compliment to the memory of the Brigadier and to Nicholas Courtney. I do hope the character, and Jemma herself, returns. A little bit of me was very chuffed that as soon as she said her name was Kate Stewart I turned to my good lady wife and said 'the Brigadier's daughter!' and was later proven right. I expect there were mutterings throughout Whodom at that point though, from others just as smugly self-satisfied as me!
Steven Berkoff was also brilliant. Was he wasted on a minor role? I don't think so. He looked awesome and was very memorable, and I hope he also returns. The Shakri have added a nice touch to Time Lord mythology. Berkoff's precision shone through with a wonderfully controlled and under-played performance that still retained his trademark energy and passion. I'd seen him beating seven shades of sh*t out of someone in a first aid training video the previous Thursday (explaining what a heart attack feels like) and we know how scary he can be in manic full-flow, but it's also refreshing (to him no doubt as well as us) to channel it through a more controlled vessel now and again.
Rory's dad, Brian. Unlike his previous appearance, this time Mark Williams was much more natural and relaxed as Brian, making him much more of a 'real' character. Or maybe I was used to him having seen him before? I don't know. Mark had a couple of wonderful moments, but the best of them surely was the bewildered look on his face as he got wheeled off the Shakri ship on the trolley.
I liked the boxes, the fact that it didn't all happen in one afternoon, the spooky hospital porters (owing a little to the gas mask horrors from Series 1's The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances), the gorgeous, GORGEOUS shots of the Shakri ship orbiting the Earth, the whole domestic feel, with guest appearances from real TV people - which was a reminder of how different the show has been under Moffat compared to RTD.

Stuff I wasn't so keen on: the Henry VIII bit made me frown. Was this the moment referred to in the previous week's episode? If so were the episodes originally going to be the other way around (which would also explain my the Ponds are already with the Doctor at the start of A Town Called Mercy...) or have they visited the old king twice now?
The resolution: I found myself saying 'is that it?' at the TV when they just blew up the ship with the sonic screwdriver and it caused everyone to come back to life. I've never been fond of sudden, convenient solutions where the Doctor finds himself in exactly the right place at the right time to sort it all out three minutes before the end of an episode. Series 4's The Fires of Pompeii was similarly spoilt in that respect.
I realise by now that Mr Chibnall is a lover of the 'edited highlights' approach to other stoies going on around the one he's focussing on, so again we get snippets of other - possibly more interesting - adventures all going on just off camera or just ending. It's now ten years since Amy started travelling with the Doctor. I don't mind this, but it's rather thrown at the viewer unprepared and I found myself concentrating on that fact rather than what was going on in the episode; it's careless on the part of the writer to drop in something so distracting. Also, we've waited since 1975 for another Zygon story on TV and here he taunts us with one that's just happened - damn you sir! If he hadn't done that we wouldn't have got confused over how many times they'd visited Henry VIII in the last two weeks would we?

However, despite all this I found it an enjoyable romp with thrills, chills and plenty to move and amuse the viewer and I thought it was the strongest episode since Asylum of The Daleks. But when I watched it again it didn't thrill or entertain me as much. I knew the gags, I was able to concentrate a bit more on what was going on at the end and I spotted the phone charger in the Henry VIII scene tying it in with the escapade as reported in A Town Called Mercy, but it didn't move me as much, it didn't take me to that next level of appreciation beyond instant gratification. I don't know if this makes it a good episode or not. Most viewers will only watch it once, so on that level I'd have to go with my first reaction and say yes, it's a great episode with a gorgeous shot of a spaceship orbiting the Earth but with far too convenient a resolution!

I hope next week doesn't end too badly for the Ponds, or Brian will be left watering the plants for a very long time. He's a patient man, we know this from his log, but still...

Doctor Who Series 7 reviews: A Town Called Mercy

So far this series I've loved Asylum of The Daleks and been a bit disappointed with Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. A Town Called Mercy was another curious episode that seemed to be wearing it's heart on its sleeve - or in its title.

The production values continue to be exceptional. The episode looked gorgeous from start to finish. Yes, the cyborg may have looked a bit like a Borg had mated with Kryten, but does that matter? Of course it doesn't!

Murray Gold's incidental music was worthy of note too - which doesn't happen so often these days. Maybe he relished the change of scene and period and it inspired him to new heights?

I'll admit I was left feeling 'so what' at the end the first time around.  It was just an old-fashioned cowboy yarn where the good guys and the bad guys weren't necessarily all they seem at the start. I watched it again the morning after and found much more to like; not a classic, but a good solid episode in what is turning out so far to be a good solid series.

This is the antidote to the previous episode: the Doctor starts off without mercy and has to re-learn it through others. Fine. But if that's all the episode has to do it's a bit of a drawn out morality tale. On the surface yes, that's all this episode has to offer - but then there's the fine supporting perfomances. It's a breather this week, not frenetic, just considered and thoughtful. Each episode so far this series has added to the variety of storytelling and tonal style that keeps Doctor Who so fresh week on week.

We start with the Ponds already travelling with the Doctor. This shouldn't be an issue for the viewer, but we've been accustomed of late to them being picked up and dropped off like a taxi service at the beginning and end of each episode so it jars a bit. The only niggle I have with the Ponds themselves is that again this week I felt that Amy and Rory were sidelined with little to do but react and respond, not lead - particularly for Rory.

The star performance was easily Adrian Scarborough as Kahler Jex. There was a great deal of realism and subtlety in his changing attitude throughout, as he challenged others and considered his own mortality and morality. Giving him pince-nez was a lovely touch, giving him a very human affectation and a prop to busy himself with.
In comparison Andrew Brooke as the cyborg gunslinger was wonderfully underplayed and precise without being dull. There was real pathos in his eye at times. It's these emotional moments, these touches which allow new Doctor Who to touch the audience in a way that the Classic series often wasn't able to.

I have little regard for the 1972 story The Mutants, but still a little part of me flipped over when I saw Ky-actor Garrick Hagon's name on the cast list. His undertaker and Ben Browder's Marshall stood out from the rest of the unwashed locals with some lovely supporting performances.

I'd be happy to see more of this type of thoughtful, considered episode, but my only plea would be to ensure the companion(s) have sufficient to do to make them proactive contributors, not passive observers.

Doctor Who Series 7 reviews: Dinosaurs On A Spaceship

Although I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since birth I’ve only recently joined the on-line fan community. Thus I have been very surprised so far at how polarised opinions are on certain aspects of the show and particularly, it seems, this week’s episode Dinosaurs on a Spaceship!

‘Chris’ and ‘Chibnall’ seems to be two of the most emotive words in fandom at the moment, particularly if paired together to create the name of the writer of this week’s episode. Some ‘fans’ clearly won’t give him the time of day, but no matter what Chris Chibnall’s faults may be (if any) he’s still a successful TV writer with more credits to his name than just Doctor Who and Torchwood. What I’ve picked up on mostly this time is that those close to the production, or to the Doctor Who ‘brand’ seem to be going out of their way to praise him, possibly in response to the fans who so vocally hate him. It’s a no-win situation for anyone in my view. Those fans aren’t going to change their minds. Chris could write the Who story to end all Who stories and he’d still come out of it smelling like Glen McCoy.

I’ve cringed at some of his Torchwood episodes, but then in series one I was cringing at most people’s Torchwood episodes because a team of competent TV professionals appeared to have gone ‘wow, we’re doing adult drama, lets put in heavy-handed sexual references and force people to be uncompromising and argumentative to create drama’. But I also really enjoyed the episodes Cyberwoman and Countrycide which most fans seem to consider laughably bad. Chibnall's Doctor Who episodes so far haven’t impressed me massively; I’ve found them uneven, with instances that jar and missed opportunities - but then I can’t really say if that’s down to the writing or to the general production. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship continues this trend for me.

To start with, my comment about Pond Life stands again - but I appreciate that this is my personal opinion. I don’t like being given flashes of other, untold, stories because I feel it trivialises the Doctor’s adventures and it’s usually done in a dismissive or light-hearted way. I’d have been happy to see the whole Nefertiti story and the whole Riddell story, for example – don’t waste ideas, capitalise on them, create mini arcs if necessary.

I think the review in DWM made a very prescient comparison with comic strips – this episode was essentially a DWM comic strip adventure brought to life: lumbering monsters crashing around, spaceships, history, big slightly silly robots. On the whole the supporting characters didn’t feel like real people, but then the tone of the piece meant that they didn’t need to. This was fine except for Rory’s dad Brian, who really needed to be more of a character and less of a caricature. Solomon managed to be an interesting and well-realised individual, so why couldn't they all? The unfortunate side-effect of the writer introducing his own ‘companions’ was that he tended to focus more on them so Amy and Rory were relegated to supporting roles, which is a shame. The same thing happened to Rose and Mickey back in 2006’s The Girl In The Fireplace.

The big robots are, of course, a comedic pair, conveniently played by a highly-regarded TV comedy duo. I picked up Robert Webb’s voice first, and as soon as I did several things clicked in my head immediately and were confirmed the next time the David Mitchell robot spoke. My initial reaction was not favourable, I will admit. It comes close to parody in making the baddies or monsters not scary, so there’s no threat. Solomon is excellently played with real bite, yet these daft robots serving him undermine him and it loses the episode some edge.

So, it’s got a deliberately light-hearted title and most people seem to up for making this a reasonably light-hearted (almost Carry On in places) alternative to the dour tone of the season opener without making it an out-an-out comedy or parody (which would be dreadful). The shame for me, then, is that there’s a really strong and moving story sitting at the middle, which develops the Silurian mythology wonderfully and offers more options for them for the future. But it's undermined by the light-heared framework in which it's presented. It’s possible that this was an exercise in Douglas Adams’ concept that the show works best when comedy and horror are played side-by-side, thus heightening the drama as the audience realise the seriousness of the situation they’re smiling at. I feel that the light-heartedness got in the way of the drama, rather than complimenting it. Amy’s high-five moment with Nefertiti, for example. How uncomfortable was that, for so many reasons? It certainly wasn’t funny or witty or charming.

I don’t have a problem with the Doctor dishing out punishments the way he did with Solomon, as long as it’s with good reason and the villain is clearly unrepentant. Usually he gets out of acting directly because either the villain messes up or some third party interferes and does the deed for him. He’s done the deed himself before from time to time – he condemns Sutekh in Pyramids of Mars and shoots the Cybercontroller in Attack of The Cybermen for example. Protecting the Earth or a whole race is one thing, but having him play the vigilante role should be treated with caution unless the show is going to take a very different direction.

I suspect that as a kid I would have loved this episode far more, so I don’t want to unfairly judge it when it’s not aimed at me solely it’s aimed at a wide TV family audience. The dinosaurs looked wonderful and the production team resisted the urge to have a hand-puppet pterodactyl menacing the Doctor or a T-Rex with a tail that looks like it’s just shat itself. Overall I’d say this was a fun episode with a little bit of something for everyone, and an interesting contrast to Asylum of The Daleks, but like 2006’s Love And Monsters I hope it’s an experiment they don’t repeat often. I enjoyed it more on the second viewing, but maybe that’s because I was more comfortable about the style and the content second time around. The dreadful innuendos and tonal inbalance in the episode still jarred though. If it's the worst this season has to offer, though, we shouldn't fare too badly.

There’s also this thing about taking the Ponds home again each week so far. I don’t want to comment on that in case it’s leading up to something. It leaves nice gaps for books or audios to fill in perhaps in the future, perhaps..?

Doctor Who Series 7 reviews: Asylum Of the Daleks

I'm very firmly in the 'no pre-season spoilers please' corner, and I'd only vaguely caught part of the trailer on TV once prior to yesterday evening's broadcast. So, apart from knowing from the end of Pond Life that all wasn't well between Amy and Rory I went into last night's episode as naively as I could.

Wow. Just that. Wow.

From the moment we see the massive Dalek statue on Skaro it's clear we're in for something special. And Skaro again? Wow! The Dalek sleeper agents were impressive, but the cadavers coming to life and converting was very much the stuff of nightmares and it's good to see that the series can still produce iconic scary or unsettling moments.

When Jenna Louise Coleman appeared I thought 'that looks like - no, it can't be, she's not supposed to appear until Christmas!'. I checked with my good lady who was equally confused. It's impressive that secrets like this can be kept back, despite pre-season screenings. I recall with the start of series 4 that RTD had a separate pre-screening version made of  Partners In Crime to avoid giving away that Rose was returning. Maybe The Moff trusts the press and the fortunate public more..? Regardless, JLC was brilliant - very confident and natural on screen. I don't know if she'll be coming back as Oswin as the companion (nor do I want to - spoilers!), but either way I'm looking forward to her joining the programme permanently, based on this performance.

It's an oddball concept, the Daleks asking for the Doctor's help, and it might have been scarier if they'd already tried sending someone else down to the asylum and they'd failed. But any criticism is really only me clutching at straws, essentially, because fundamentally there was nothing wrong with this episode at all and it's easily the strongest series opener since the show returned in 2005.

Dusty, broken and insane Daleks are definitely more unnerving than a gleaming massed army. Thankfully the fairground ride-style Paradigm Daleks from Mark Gatiss' 2010 episode Victory of The Daleks took a back seat and much of the action involved the bronzed 'armoured tanks' of the RTD era. It's possibly a shame that so much publicity was issued before about all the Classic Series Daleks being lined up for this episode, because the viewers didn't see much of them at all and it seemed they were only there for background set dressing and not getting involved in the main action.

Particular delights for me were the Doctor's putdown 'you're just a tricycle with a roof' to an unarmed Dalek. Also the control room throb when Rory accidentally reawakened the first Dalek, and the doors from Power of The Daleks! I'm assuming the nude Dalek in the glass jar at the Parliament was a nod or homage to David Whittaker's novelisation of the first TV Dalek story back in the mid-60's (Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with The Daleks) which had a glass / crystal-cased Dalek leader. I thought at first it was Dalek Cahn back again, but presumably he'd be in the asylum if he was still around, the tentacled little nutjob!

Whilst I loved the twist at the end I loved even more the anticipation as the camera slowly panned round to show what the Doctor could see. I was half-expecting Oswin to be a kind of female Davros, slowly being Dalek-ised in a base unit. Maybe that would have been too horrible for the timeslot? The reanimated cadavers earlier were probably already pushing it a bit. I felt something was up early on, though, when Oswin was hacking into the Dalek systems so easily. I'm glad it turned out not to be just a convenience for moving the story along.

Patience is a virtue, and Moffat was reminding us of that in this episode. I was annoyed at first that suddenly Amy & Rory's marriage had broken down when it's been clear all along that they both deeply love each other. The longer the episode went on without addressing this the more frustrated I was getting, but when it happened blimey was it ever an emotional moment. Pure dramatic highpoint. Historically, drama has been filled with situations where one character makes a decision which they feel is in the best interest of an other, which then creates a 'situation' to address. One frank conversation early on would probably prematurely end nearly all of Shakespeare's plays for example! Moffat rehashes that scenario here. We get the feeling a conversation about how important children are should have been had a long time ago between Amy and Rory. And does Amy have an objection to adopting?

The episode has an interesting premise, if not necessarily a deep story to tell. It's a platform for mending Amy & Rory's relationship, for introducing the talents of Jenna Louise Coleman, for spooky-ing up the Daleks properly for the first time since 2005's Dalek, and for re-setting the Doctor / Dalek mythology by having them completely forget him. It's refreshing to think that they have to learn about him all over again. I wonder what will happen if Davros ever shows up again though..?

As ever with the new series it could be argued it was too convenient that the Doctor could transmat himself and the Ponds back into the TARDIS at the end and not need a struggle with a saucer full of Daleks, but it does fit and it's not that much of a short cut in the grand scheme of things. I do wonder if the Doctor's made to be a little too good at times, because things have to be wrapped up on time.

I also wonder who's idea it was to get JLC to give a cheesy glance to camera at the end when she says 'remember me'?! We will, of course, and I'll forgive the schmaltz because I've loved everything else so much up to that point.

Next time, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. I wonder what the hell that can be about?! And I'll be missing it 'live' because we'll be at Hyde Park enjoying Terry Wogan, Kylie and 'Prom In The Park'!

Doctor Who Series 7 reviews: Pond Life

OK, I know this wasn't a proper episode or story, but it's out there and it still counts. I've always been divided over this type of additional sketch / prequel - I worry that in reducing a situation to tableau or edited highlights it trivialises it and the attitude of the characters involved. It suggests that some stories just aren't worth telling as a whole. We had the same thing at the beginning of The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe at Christmas. Doesn't this then put more pressure on the stories that are told to be ever better? Could the team allow the novels to fill in these gaps, maybe?

Anyway, the Ponds are just getting on with their lives (which is nice) with an ominous brief visit from the Doctor and the occasional voicemail until the late Jon Pertwee's wish kind of comes true when the Ponds find an Ood sitting on their toilet (for those who don't know Pertwee thought the scariest thing ever would be to come home and find a yeti sitting on your toilet in Tooting Bec). There's some nice character moments with Amy and Rory and the Ood butler, while the Doctor is having his adventures with Sontarans and Mata Hari. It's all very fleeting, as I say, moments caught in time. Then there's an obviously heartbreaking moment at the end where Rory is walking out on a distraught Amy. How can things have got suddenly so bad between them? Why hasn't this been built up to?

These minisodes are too short to make an opinion over really. They appear to be setting up certain concepts for the next series but are a curiosity at best, and at worst a waste of about seven minutes of your time. I may re-visit them after the first half of Series 7 (the Pond half) is over and re-evaluate if / what it was seeding.