LDS Geeks Podcast #40: Twenty Years of Modern Who

I'm not sure any other franchise could celebrate its 60th anniversary and then its 20th anniversary two years later. Doctor Who is special like that and it fits the franchise well. So TJ and I had stop to talk about the modern era of Doctor Who, since we're not done with the Fourth Doctor's tenure yet. Enjoy!

--Spencer 

LDS Geeks Podcast #16: Interview with a Dalek

Instead of continuing my adventures through Classic Doctor Who with TJ (because sometimes life gets obnoxiously busy), I had a chance meeting with someone who got to be an extra in the Moffat era of Doctor Who (pictures below with some of his appearances). He agreed to be my guest on the podcast, even though he's not a Latter-day Saint. I hope you enjoy my interview with Harry, who was once a Dalek. Please excuse/enjoy our tangents about parenting.

--Spencer

The Doctor's Doppelgängers

Next week begins the start of Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials. This won't be the first time the Doctor encounters/wears a familiar face. In fact it almost seems like it's a recurring theme, the Doctor encountering his doppelgängers (or being his own doppelgänger in this case). Sometimes before he wears the face and sometimes after. Sometimes at the same time. So with the Fourteenth Doctor coming up (and with "Enemy of the World" in my recent memories) let's take a look at these twinners.

First Doctor - Abbot of Amboise (The Massacre)

Though the episode doesn't still exist in its entirety, "The Massacre" features the Doctor encountering (sort of) his lookalike in the 16th Century. The Doctor never appears on screen with the Abbot, so I suppose the Doctor could have been the Abbot the whole time (instead of just pretending to be him). But all the same, Steven couldn't tell for sure through the four episodes whether he was truly interacting with the Doctor or the Abbot. Frustrating I'm sure. That couldn't have helped with that outburst at the end, before he stormed out of the TARDIS. (Side note: If we're including the fact that David Bradley played the Doctor in "Twice Upon a Time" and "The Power of the Doctor", the First Doctor also had a double in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship")

Second Doctor - Ramón Salamander (The Enemy of the World)

Upon arriving in Australia 2018 (yet another future story now set in the past), what are the odds that the Doctor would encounter a Hispanic warlord version of himself? Naturally the dictatorship's enemies had to use the Doctor to infiltrate the bad guys' European home. But the Doctor being the Doctor had to make sure he was on the right side before agreeing to overthrow a regime. And enter the Doctor's superb acting skills, utilized multiple times in his second incarnation, to fool nearly all of Salamander's people. Long story short, good guys win and Salamander forgot to close the TARDIS doors before taking off.... so into the vortex he goes. Spin-off media took his story in another direction after that, but as TJ and I have said on the podcast, that goes into the pseudo-canon (pick-and-choose-canon) realm.

Fourth Doctor - The Curator (The Day of the Doctor)

As if it wasn't enough to have all thirteen Doctor's appear AND save Gallifrey, we were hit with another surprise as the legendary Tom Baker returned to Doctor Who. The Fourth Doctor is still the longest running Doctor, so to see him return as the Curator was/is a big deal for fans. Though not technically confirmed in the 50th Anniversary special, it was heavily hinted that the Curator is a future incarnation of the Doctor. Regardless, his face was recognizable by the Eleventh Doctor. The spin-off media expands on the Curator, but as previously noted, that's only sort-of canon.

Sixth Doctor - Maxil (Arc of Infinity)

Before appearing as the flamboyantly obnoxious Sixth Doctor, Collin Baker appeared as the Time Lord Maxil in "Arc of Infinity". Imagine with all the faces you could regenerate into and you turn into another Time Lord. I guess that's just the luck of the draw... except that sometimes the face isn't random (see the two examples below).

Tenth Doctor - Fourteenth Doctor (60th Anniversary Specials)

How do you become your own doppelgänger? By being the most popular Doctor of the modern era. We know next to nothing about the Fourteenth Doctor, except that for some reason he looks like the Tenth. From the trailers (Spoiler warning) we can kind of tell that the Fourteenth Doctor is going to wrap up some of his unfinished business from his time with Donna. What does that mean for them? Who knows? And how does the Toymaker play into things?

Twelfth Doctor - Lobus Caecilius (Fire of Pompeii)

We were told this Doctor double would be addressed during the tenure of the Twelfth Doctor. I don't know what I expected (maybe revisiting Roman times?) but I was underwhelmed at the explanation of why the Doctor looked like Caecilius. Maybe I wanted them to address Donna again? I don't know, but we're getting Donna again anyway. Also, though I never watched Torchwood, Peter Capaldi also appeared on the Doctor Who spin-off as John Frobisher and I kind of hoped they'd tie him into the Twelfth Doctor as well. Oh well.

And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be here twiddling my thumbs, continuing along my Second Doctor rewatch, while I wait for the return of the Doctor and Donna. Happy 60th anniversary, Whovians!

The Twelfth Doctor

Back when I first joined the Geeks, I did a series of posts highlighting the First through Eleventh Doctors. When I finished with Eleven, we had just finished with the Twelfth Doctor--and forgotten much of the first two seasons. Now he’s been done for a couple years, but I’ve had the chance to rewatch the series. Now I can properly highlight Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. So after rewatching Series 8-10, here we go with Twelve.

Series 8

Top Story: Dark Water/Death in Heaven
First off, I hate that Danny Pink died. Why? We built it all up with him and Clara for a whole season (remember Orson Pink?) and then BAM! He walks into traffic. But Danny Pink is a rant for another day. Besides Danny’s death, I loved this story for bringing in so many Doctor Who characters in brilliant formation. We got UNIT returning with Kate and Osgood, Missy (as the regenerated Master), and even an appearance from the Brigadier (in Cyberman form). I love it when Doctor Who reinforces its continuity in episodes like these. We finally found out who Missy was and why she was meeting all these dead people from throughout the season. Unfortunately, she was killed off too soon…. Or was she?

Flop Story: Listen
When I first watched this episode, I thought it was great. Maybe even on par with “Blink”. However, upon rewatching it, it bugged me. If a creature is the perfect hider, why did it suddenly decide to “show” itself to the Doctor and tease its existence? And then in the end, it was just Clara to instill this fear in the Doctor? And what was that thing on Rupert’s bed? It’s a thrilling idea and a great episode in a way, but there are so many plot holes that upon rewatch it was unbearable.

Honorable Mention: Deep Breath
This was quite the regeneration story. To some extent, I don’t agree with how upset Clara was from the start--but once he started abandoning her, I felt like she was justified. However, by the end, the Doctor was himself again (well, his new self) and we even got a cameo from his past life. This was also our first introduction to Missy (we’d later find out who she really was) and we got an allusion back to the Tenth Doctor era and the Madame de Pompadour. I always love a good Easter egg. 

Series 9

Top Story: The Husbands of River Song
After such a dark season it was nice to get some comic relief during this Christmas special. Alex Kingston and Peter Capaldi working together was amazing. I wish we could have had more of these two together. Their dramatic and comedic timing was amazing. It was so sweet to see River realize that the Doctor cared for her as much as she did for him. And in the end we got to see River’s story come full circle, as she spent her last night with the Doctor before the Library.

Flop Story: The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived
I didn’t like this story for one simple reason: I didn’t find Ashildr/Me intriguing. The story felt kind of bland compared to other Twelfth Doctor stories and I didn’t like that by the end of the second story Me was just left without closure. Oddly enough, I actually liked her character in “Face the Raven” and “Hell Bent”, but not in her introductory episodes.

Honorable Mention: Face the Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent
These three episodes were separate enough stories that it was almost more like a trilogy of stories instead of a three-part story. Clara had a good send-off in “Face the Raven'', fitting for her character. The three-part finale gave us the return of Ashildr/Me (which I’ve already addressed above). Finally, it gave us the return of the Time Lords and Gallifrey for the first time since they were saved by the thirteen Doctors. I love that they brought back Rassilon (regenerated after the Master killed him in “The End of Time”) and the General from “The Day of the Doctor”. But of course the Doctor ended up running away, leaving the Time Lords for another day.

Series 10
Top Story: Extremis/Pyramid at the End of the World/Lie of the Land
Another trilogy of episodes that pulled me in. “Extremis” was mind-bending. Kind of left a chill like the audience had to wonder if they could be in a simulation and not know it. We never even knew that the Doctor wasn’t real until the very end. Then we go into “Pyramid”, racing against time (and they didn’t even realize it), leading directly into “Lie of the Land”. It was exciting and heart-warming. The solution is love—love is stronger than fear. A lesson we could all use as human beings… but then again, as the Doctor noted, we never learn from our mistakes—humans forget—a symptom of pride and the human experience.

Flop Story: Smile
This episode was possibly the creepiest of the season, even more than the monks. It should have been my favorite episode, but instead of finding any sort of meaningful resolution in the story, the Doctor just reset the Vardi and told the humans to figure it out. Felt anticlimactic. The concept reminded me of “Happiness Patrol” where it was illegal to be anything but happy. It’s ok to have emotions; it’s human. If we didn’t have emotions, we’d be Cybermen. The Vardi treated grief as a virus, but it’s part of our humanity. “Granting all your wishes is not a good idea.”

Honorable Mention: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
The return of the Mondasian Cybermen. Bill’s tragic end. Return of the Master. It was a wonderful amalgamation of Doctor Who continuity. It was an interesting writing choice to “kill” Bill early on and turn her into a Cyberman. I really liked Bill! Why’d they have to kill her? At least she got a happy ending in her own way--same with Nardole. I loved seeing Missy show that she’d truly changed and come to the Doctor’s side… even if he never saw it. Goes to show what can happen when someone believes in you. And finally the ending… the Doctor… the original.

Special Story: Twice Upon a Time
It’s been decades since we had a multi-Doctor story for a non-anniversary episode. This episode featured the return of David Bradley, who had previously portrayed William Hartnell in "An Adventure in Space and Time". I loved the callbacks to the First Doctor’s regeneration story. We also had the introduction of the Brigadier’s grandfather and the return of Rusty. In the end, it was a nice send-off for the Twelfth Doctor. He was already fatally injured fighting the Cybermen, so his regeneration was inevitable. So instead of having some mystery big bad for the episode, we found out the “big bad” wasn’t so bad. 

COMPANIONS:

Clara (11th Doctor) - Hell Bent
Nardole Extremis (flashback) - The Doctor Falls
Bill The Pilot - The Doctor Falls

Favorite Companion: I was pleasantly surprised with Bill’s character. I wrote my first impressions in a post after “The Pilot” but she got even better as the season went on. I liked her optimism. She’d been through a lot in her life, but she kept her positive attitude regardless of what hit her. Even after it seemed like the Doctor abandoned her in “Lie of the Land”. The world could use more people like Bill.

Least Favorite Companion: I loved Clara as a companion of the Eleventh Doctor and even through her tenure with Twelve. However, during my rewatch, I got annoyed with how awfully she treated Danny, lying to him and sneaking behind his back. And then after his death (which I’m still mad about) she got so reckless; it would have been much nicer if she’d said goodbye to the Doctor during “Last Christmas”.

Which was your favorite Peter Capaldi story? Would you want to see the Twelfth Doctor return for a 60th anniversary special in 2023?

Check out our other Doctor Who features:

• First Doctor
• Second Doctor
• Third Doctor
• Fourth Doctor Part 1 and Part 2
• Fifth Doctor
• Sixth Doctor
• Seventh Doctor
• Eighth Doctor
• Ninth Doctor
• Tenth Doctor
• Eleventh Doctor

River Song Binge List

I recently finished up the Tenth Doctor era of Doctor Who, which leads me straight into the Eleventh Doctor. He’s not my favorite (Ten is my favorite), but Eleven has some great stories too (after all he had Clara Oswald and the 50th Anniversary Special). One of the highlights of the Eleventh Doctor era has to be River Song. She’s feisty, she’s adventurous, and she’s mysterious. A few years back a roommate brought up the idea of watching River Song’s story chronologically. I still haven’t done it, but I still want to. This isn’t for new fans, but there’ll be some hardcore Whovians who want this.

1. A Good Man Goes to War (Series 6, Episode 7)
Gotta start with her story as a baby. She also appears as an adult here, but I’m going to ignore that for a moment. But as Kovarian’s people have Amy and Baby Melody, the Doctor and Rory end up pulling together a rescue team.

2. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (Series 6, Episodes 1-2)
Again we’ve got River Song from different ages. Right now I’m going to focus on kid Melody. So while adult River is helping the Doctor with all his shenanigans, young Melody is trapped in her spacesuit until she eventually regenerates at the end of Episode 2.

3. Let’s Kill Hitler (Series 6, Episode 8)
After Melody’s regeneration, she ends up in the 21st Century where she grows up alongside her parents. So through the Amy/Rory flashbacks here, we see Mels grow up. Eventually, when she ends up in the TARDIS with the Ponds and the Doctor, they head to WWII and fight Hitler. And then during the gunshots, Mels regenerates into River Song.

4. Closing Time (Series 6, Episode 12)
This episode focuses mostly on the Doctor and Craig and Stormaggedon fighting the Cybermen. However, at the end we get River Song studying in the 52nd Century before Madam Kovarian takes her to kill the Doctor.

5. The Wedding of River Song (Series 6, Episode 13)
Not missing a beat after “Closing Time”, we lead into Lake Silencio, but from a different River Song perspective in the spacesuit. She breaks the fixed point in time to save the Doctor and (long story short) she ends up marrying him in the broken timeline.

6. A Good Man Goes to War (Series 6, Episode 7)
We’ve come first circle. After their wedding and the Doctor’s “death”, River Song is in prison and the Doctor takes her out for dates. After one of them, she sees her father Rory trying to recruit her for a rescue mission to get Amy and Baby Melody (not knowing who she really is). As such she refuses to join the mission, but later shows up to reveal her identity to Amy and Rory.

7. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (Series 6, Episodes 1-2)
Returning to this two-part episode, we’re following adult River now back to Lake Silencio (from another perspective) and then back to 1969 to chase down a mystery. The TARDIS team learns about a little girl in a spacesuit and a new monster they call the Silence. Everything works out in the end, even if it involves killing the Silence. For now.

8. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang (Series 5, Episodes 12-13)
Somewhere along the lines, River Song heads back to 102 AD and pretends to be Cleopatra. She leads the Doctor and Amy to Stonehenge and the Pandorica. She ends up getting trapped in the TARDIS while reality slowly falls apart, until the Doctor rescues her and restarts the universe.

9. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (Series 5, Episodes 4-5)
The Doctor and his new-ish companion Amy Pond team up with River Song against the Weeping Angels. He doesn’t know who she is at this point, but she knows. So they beat the Weeping Angels and all is well (for now) but “spoilers”.

10. The Wedding of River Song (Series 6, Episode 13)
Just at the end of this episode, River Song appears claiming to have come straight from the Weeping Angels adventure. It’s a short scene but River reveals that the Doctor isn’t actually dead. Spoilers again.

11. The Angels Take Manhattan (Series 7, Episode 5)
The Doctor, the Ponds, and River get caught up in a back and forth time travel story between 2012 and the 1930s. It’s a sad episode for the Doctor, as he and River say goodbye to her parents (although there’s nothing to say she didn’t go visit them later, I suppose)

12. The Husbands of River Song (Christmas Special 2015)
For the first time, River doesn’t recognize the Doctor. She and the Twelfth Doctor end up in the middle of a con in a 54th Century Christmas. The episode ends with his final date with her (gifting her a sonic screwdriver) before she goes off to the Library, where he first met her.

13. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (Series 4, Episodes 8-9)
River shows up at the Library and meets the Tenth Doctor and Donna. In the fight against the Vashta Narada, I think she slowly realizes that it’s her end. By the end of the story, she knows she needs to sacrifice herself so the Doctor can live on and meet her properly.

14. The Name of the Doctor (Series 7, Episode 13)
After her death and upload into the Library, she gets called on by Madame Vastra and a phantom of her gets roped into a visit to Trenzalore where she coaches Clara along the way. And finally at the end, at least as far as we know, she says goodbye to the Doctor and gets closure.

Which was your favorite River Song adventure? If they were to show her again, how would you like it to happen? I know she’s met other Doctors in the audio stories. Can anyone recommend one of those for me?

Doctor Who Review: "Twice Upon a Time"

Merry Christmas! Merry Doctor Who Christmas Special! I just barely finished watching the Christmas special, so I want to share my thoughts ASAP. Warning: Spoilers ahead.

So I think this is the first multi-Doctor story that doesn’t have a villain. I recently finished classic Doctor Who and they all have villains: “The Three Doctors” (Omega), “The Five Doctors” (Borusa), “The Two Doctors” (Dastari and the Sontarans), and “The Day of the Doctor” (Sontarans and Daleks). This was definitely a twist, pulling out a person-versus-self plot, when most of us expected a person-versus-foe plot. So as far as this story goes, I was kept guessing and on my toes, so I liked it.

I wasn’t a big fan of bringing Bill back. Turned out okay, but it started out as another death cop-out. Bill had a good, satisfying ending and I was worried they’d mess with her ending. Turning her into a memory of herself was a lot more satisfying than somehow resurrecting her.

That being said, I enjoyed the cameos by previous cast members. It was also satisfying to see the Doctor regain his memories of Clara. I knew of course that Bill was returning, but Clara and Nardole returning was a pleasant surprise. We even got an appearance by the good Dalek, Rusty, last seen over two years ago. I also very much enjoyed the stand-ins for Polly and Ben and the incorporation of the Classic Who footage. On the topic of recurring characters, David Bradley did a great job as the First Doctor. His mannerisms and the portrayal was spot on for how William Hartnell carried the character back in the 60s.

Now the topic of the new Doctor: I have my opinions on how I feel about making the Doctor a woman now. Short version is that as long as it’s done without an agenda (which Doctor Who is pretty good at) I’m fine with it. I’m not sure yet how I feel about her entrance. It was reminiscent of the Eleventh Doctor’s entrance (TARDIS blowing up and chaos ensuing). Coincidentally, that time was also a turnover in Doctor, companion, and showrunner. So I guess we’ll see what happens. On a side note, it’s funny how so many of us Whovians associate Steven Moffat with killing off characters, and yet again we see Moffat not kill off a single person, even during World War I.

What did you think of the Doctor Who Christmas special? Thoughts on our new Thirteenth Doctor? Enjoy New Years, guys! I’ll see you in two weeks.

Doctor Who Review: "The Pilot"

A week ago we were blessed with some new Doctor Who after over a year without a new season. To be fair we had two Christmas specials in the meantime, but other than that we haven’t had any new Who since (spoiler alert) Clara and Ashildr flew off in that diner TARDIS. My roommate and I went to see the premiere “The Pilot” in theaters for a Fathom Events thing, so here with go with a little review. Obviously, spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen it yet, go to iTunes ASAP, since it is currently free. Go do it. Now.

Anyway, first off, I like the introduction to the episode. I felt like we got to see the episode from Bill’s perspective (to be clear, Bill is a girl; I’m not sure what it’s short for, with a girl, but Bill is a girl). Of course at this point we know who the Doctor is and we know Nardole. However, since the episode is from Bill’s perspective, this is an appropriate spot to start someone! While it wasn’t a very popular episode, this is kind of like the episode “Rose”, the very first episode of modern Who. In “Rose” we had Rose’s perspective as she got to know the Doctor and we learned about the Doctor along with Rose. Same with Bill in this episode. We learn about the Doctor alongside Bill. It’ll a great place to start a potential Whovian, especially since it would take watching 9 seasons to get caught up on modern Who.

Now specifically Bill. I was skeptical about this character after she was introduced in the season promo after the Christmas special. It just seems like ANOTHER young, peppy girl as a companion, instead of a unique character. After this episode, I’m cautiously optimistic. I was also worried when I heard she was going to be a lesbian, since my last major exposure to an LGBT character was Ruby and Dorothy in Once Upon a Time. That storyline just felt forced. However, Bill’s sexuality felt like a natural part of her character. Instead of being out of left field and unexpected, it felt like any other romantic involvement of a character.

I liked the pace of the episode too. Despite taking place over the course of months, it keeps plugging along. The back and forth between Bill and the Doctor is great. Bill keeps throwing a wrench into the Doctor’s clichés (took her forever to realize it was bigger on the inside). Just so much irony in her comments towards the Doctor about science fiction and everything. I liked it and it helped me warm up to her character. She’s not just a sassy young adult girl, like Amy or Clara.

Finally, there were a number of loose ends in this episode. I’m assuming they’ll be resolved, but you never know. I’m curious how long the Doctor has REALLY been at the university. He and Nardole seem to have been there for a while and they’ve been tutoring Bill for a while as well. Why did the Doctor come to the university? Why have he and Nardole been hanging out there for so long? Of all things though, I will be really disappointed if they don’t delve further into that vault they were guardians. Also, we saw the Doctor in a reflection in the picture of Bill’s mom. It seemed obvious to me that he went back to cause the ripple effect that Bill would have pictures, but at the very least I’d like them to acknowledge it.

What did you think of the Doctor Who Series 10 premiere? Any thoughts on Bill? What about thoughts on Nardole sticking around longer? I kind of like the idea of having TARDIS team again instead of just one companion.

PS: I loved the bouquet of sonic screwdrivers and the pictures of River and Susan.

Review: Doctor Who Series 8

This past Saturday was the first without a new Doctor Who episode since August. It's okay, I'm crying about it too.

The good news is, I'm gonna review the 8th series for you here. Its ups, its downs, its good moments, its annoying ones.

But first, let's give River a moment:

So, now that you've been warned of spoilers, let's start at the beginning of the series.

Many Doctor Who fans had been waiting for over 8 months for a new episode since The Time of the Doctor aired Christmas 2013. But since my wife and I began watching Doctor Who 1/1/2014 and got to The Time of the Doctor in July, we only had a month to wait.

So, we return to Victorian England to see Strax, Jenny, and Vastra help Clara transition from Matt Smith's really young Doctor to Peter Capaldi's....let's just say he's older. Deep Breath, though a little lengthy, was a very interesting episode. It brought in the series villain, some woman named Missy. For a return to the series with a brand new Doctor, it was well-done in my opinion. it gave us some insight to the Doctor trying to understand who he is. It brought us the second time a companion has had to deal with a new Doctor in the modern series. (Which to be fair is the 2nd of 3 possibilities.) And of course, it brought us the return of many-a-fan's favorite trio of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. Strax of course made the episode completely enjoyable with his interactions with Clara.

I could probably talk about Deep Breath for a whole blog post or two. But the series did continue on with some decent episodes. Into the Dalek brought us some of our new Doctor's antics and his kindness toward his greatest enemy. Although, Capaldi's nicknaming this Dalek as Rusty, seemed nothing short of Matt Smith's nickname for the Cyberman head as Handles. Don't know why, but it bothered me.

We once again got to meet a historical figure in Doctor Who. After Dickens, Shakespeare, Churchill, and Van Gogh, we got to meet Robin Hood. I loved how the Doctor didn't believe that Robin Hood was real and tried to prove it. Of course, Clara is smitten with Robin Hood (despite having met Danny in the previous episode.)

After that, you get this season's creep factor episode in Listen. It is one of the most beautifully written episodes with a decent "wow" moment. Having Clara meet a very, very young Doctor and being the cause of the Doctor's curiosity was an awesome moment.

Then you've got the boring trilogy of episodes. Yeah, I liked Time Heist for the Ocean's 11 aspect of it. But it was predictable and felt like they merged a few past episodes into this one because someone had no original idea. And then The Caretaker was okay, but in the end, made no sense. There was no reason for the Doctor to call Clara and Danny out of "parents day". But as I watched it twice, he does point to them both. The only "reasoning" is he knew Danny would look after Clara. Kill the Moon was extremely lackluster, with the exception of the end when Clara utters this awesome line:

Greatness returned in Mummy on the Orient Express. I did not like the similarity between the flying train vs the flying boat from Voyage of the Damned. However, this was a pretty awesome voyage. After Clara's tirade, this being her "swan song" with the Doctor *cough*liar*cough*, this episode had two moments that would make any fan of Doctor Who (both classic and modern) smile. First: the Doctor doesn't say it, but he does in fact offer a Jelly Baby. And then, for the modern fans, as the Mummy goes to attack him, he asks the quintessential question that hearkens back to Eccleston and Rose: Are you my mummy?

Flatline and In the Forest of the Night were both good Clara-centric episodes. Watching this character actually lie to her boyfriend. Flatline was, for me, what Listen actually tried to be. Listen tried to be this season's Blink. But Flatline, I think, topped it. Clara without the Doctor was awesome. And really, Danny has got to be the most forgiving guy out there for how many times Clara has deceived him. In the Forest of the Night, he still doesn't care. I did like how the children were used for this episode, despite the fact that they seem to young compared to the other students at Coal Hill.....

And then we get the two-part finale. It starts with another item on the "Why we hate Moffat" list. The extremely senseless death of Danny Pink. Seriously, did the writers put themselves in a hole? Did someone stop liking Danny? Were we afraid of an Amy/Rory repeat? Blah. Now this gives Clara a reason to die. Veto!

Of course, we got to see who Missy really was. Were you surprised? I wasn't. What? Wait! How? Well...it was the clue she gives earlier in the season. She refers to the Doctor as her boyfriend. As a viewer, I questioned why would she say that. Was she someone from the Doctor's future, like River? Was she River somehow regenerated? No, River was eccentric, not crazy. Could this have been Clara somehow? Or Rose? No, neither one made sense. Romana could have fit the bill, but it just didn't seem right. So...it brought us to the Master. First: come on, her name was Missy! Couldn't connect Missy to Mistress to Master? Second: Who else would be this plotting? Third: Who else had such a history with the Doctor to call him her boyfriend, even jokingly.

So Danny's dead. And then Missy goes on a "bananas" killing spree and kills Osgood! What? Why would you need to do that? This is why Moffat needs to be smacked so hard he'll regenerate. There was absolutely no good reason to kill the character that represented every geek ideal. It'd be like killing Felicity Smoak on Arrow (that better not happen!). Ugh! Thanks a lot Moffat!

And then they make it look like Missy had killed Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Thanks to her Cyberman-daddy, Kate didn't die. Which of course made no sense to me, but whatever. Time-traveling Cyberman, I suppose. I do think Danny's final act was selfless, despite it hurting our Clara.

But see, my fear going into this series was that Clara would die and leave the show. So thankfully, that didn't happen. And I was really glad that they were able to create a segue into the Christmas episode (for the first time since season 3's Voyage of the Damned.) But, it was a very upsetting finale. It ranks 4th to last for me (barely above Time Heist) on the 8th series. And the only reason it edges that out is because Osgood said "bow ties are cool".

So, that's my review of the 8th Series of Doctor Who.

Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.

Thoughts on the 13th Doctor

The last time we all saw Dr. Who, he had abruptly changed faces on us, and in the process, had momentarily forgotten how to fly a careening Tardis. Newcomer Peter Capaldi had only a single line as the new Doctor (and one eye cameo in the 50th anniversary special), and that left me with many questions about the new Doctor. We've had to wait until this month to see him in a proper episode, and so I was understandably curious as to how I would like the new one.

The other changes have always taken me some time to get used to. My first exposure to Dr. Who came with Christopher Eccelston, and the switch to David Tennant really threw me for a bit, though David ended up being my favorite Doctor. This time, however, I guessed that the differences between Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi might be starker. I've since watched episodes containing every Doctor in existence, and Peter at first glance strikes me as more of a William Hartnell type character than any of the Doctor's since the show rebooted. Could this be Dr. Who going back to his roots? This is the first of a new regeneration cycle of 12, and so, it might make sense that the 13th Doctor should mirror the 1st.

Instead of looking at the episode, which I genuinely enjoyed, I want to focus on my first impressions of the new Doctor himself.

1. On one hand, he's got some steel to him. I loved the last two Doctors, but it was hard to find them intimidating, even if they were trying. This doctor comes with "attack eyebrows". His confrontation with the episode's villain at the end of the episode made me think the Doctor is tired of sugarcoating things and ready to get down to business...kicking butt and taking names.

2. On the other hand, he's surprisingly funny. One thing I was worried about going in to the episode is that his personality would swing so drastically that the Doctor wouldn't be funny anymore. The humor has shifted, but it's still there, with a bit more biting edge to it.

3. He is more like some of the original series doctors, but he stands apart. Sure, he did remind me of William Hartnell a bit, but he wasn't trying to copy him, or any other Doctor for that matter. Everything from his attire to his accent sets him apart as a new incarnation, one who can tackle some more intense, serious subject matter.

I think one reason Dr. Who is a brilliant show is that is not afraid to shake things up. Many TV shows fall into the rut of having the same people do the same things ad nauseum, but with periodically changing both the Doctor and his companions periodically, it can keep the show from feeling stale. I, for one, am excited to see what new surprises the Peter Capaldi era will bring, and hope that he sticks around for a bit.

Now let's see if that can actually keep the show going through a whole new cycle of regenerations...

Review: Doctor Who: Deep Breath

If you're a Doctor Who fan, then you know that this weekend was pretty awesome. If you're not, then I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. By the way, proceed through this post with caution. Because...well...I'll let River tell you.

BBC America has been showing a lot of Doctor Who in the past few weeks. This past week has been a marathon from Donna to Amy to Clara. And then came the awesome re-airing of Day of the Doctor. (Okay, they showed it like 3 times this weekend, but still.) Personally Day of the Doctor is one of my all-time favorite episodes in the whole series.

Of course, my wife and I had to rewatch both Day of the Doctor as well as Time of the Doctor. And before I get to the newest episode, let me point out two things I found interesting from these episodes.

First: In Time of the Doctor, shortly after discovering the crack in the wall in the town of Christmas, the Doctor says he has a seal that he stole from the Master in the Dead Zone. The first time we watched this episode, I had no idea what that meant. But thanks to a friend, I was able to watch The Five Doctors, which has the Master and all the Doctors at the time (minus 4 sadly enough) in the Dead Zone. The Time Lords wanted to prove that the Master was helping them so they gave him the seal. #11 states that he stole the seal off the Master at this time. Just thought it was awesome how they brought it back into play.

Second: When I first watched the Day of the Doctor, it was awesome to see Tom Baker as the curator. Even though we all know/hope he was somehow a much older Doctor. His vagueness in speech is just enough to make one believe he really is the Doctor. But....let's back up toward the beginning of this special. Matt Smith is reading a letter from Queen Elizabeth I. In that letter she says something quite interesting. She names the Doctor as the curator. What better position for the Doctor to retire into as the curator and somehow change back into some of the old favorite faces.

Okay, now on to the premier:

So, I'm not gonna speak so much as to Capaldi (pronounced Kuh-pal-dee, if you didn't know) in his portrayal of the Doctor, but more of the storyline aspect. More or less, this is just a list of items I found fascinating, intriguing, interesting.

First, at the very end, we get a glimpse at what looks like the villain for this season/series. Someone quite interesting. But I can't go into much, because I don't know much. But it also means that Frankenborg will probably be returning at some point as well.

Second, there is a reason the Doctor regenerated into Caecillius' form from The Fires of Pompeii. And it seems as if they're going to act
ually address it other than "random casting" like they did with Colin Baker. The Doctor's obsession with his eyebrows was pretty awesome.

Third, we see that there was a reason the phone was off the hook when Clara walked up to the TARDIS at the end of Time of the Doctor. I like how they did that actually. It seemed as if they knew they were going to use that moment in the future, otherwise, her hanging up the phone seemed pointless. Plus, it was nice to see another moment for Matt Smith as the Doctor.

Fourth, the return of Madam Vastra, Jenny, and Strax is always a welcomed treat. Their presence in A Good Man Goes to War seems really odd. But their return in The Snowmen, Crimson Horror, and The Name of the Doctor have made them awesome recurring characters. And how can you not love the potato? Strax continues his humor in this episode by throwing a newspaper at Clara's face, telling Clara she looks better until he "realizes" it was the poor lighting, and of course, referring to killing someone and then having to take it back (a few times.)

Fifth, Clara acts as the audience member. I always see the companion's role that way, but this is quite true. Many people were against Capaldi's casting as the Doctor and claim it is difficult to see him in that role. But really, it's more trusting the whole show to not deceive us. Capaldi is our Doctor for now. So let's forgive Matt Smith for leaving and move on.

Sixth, Clara utters one of my favorite lines that echoes back to the classic series 10th season premier: The Three Doctors. When the second Doctor is looking at the third's TARDIS he says "Ah, I can see you've been doing the TARDIS up a bit. Um, I don't like it." In The Five Doctors special, the second Doctor meets up with Lethbridge-Stewart and, taking a look around his office, he says "You've had this room redecorated haven't you? Don't like it." Fast-forward exactly thirty years to The Day of the Doctor when the TARDIS adjusts to #11's version. #10 looks around and says "Oh, you've redecorated! I don't like it." So it's no shock when Clara walks into the newly changed TARDIS, sees #12 (I don't count the War Doctor as anything more than 8.5) and says "You've redecorated." He says "Yes." And of course, she says, "I don't like it."

I really have no idea what is in store for Capaldi's Doctor and my favorite companion. (Yes, Clara is by far my favorite of the Doctor's companions.) But I do know this will be another interesting series of episodes for what is probably BBC's most lucrative franchise.

Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.