REVIEW: THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR (THE 3D CINEMA EXPERIENCE)

 

I have to admit, I wasn't really that bothered about going to see the 50th anniversary episode at the cinema. I hadn't followed the past few series, so it didn't make much sense for me to rush out and get a ticket to see the latest episode. I could have just watched it on TV. But there's something about the shared experience of viewing something at the cinema, especially for a show which we normally only get to see at home. So I decided to go and watch it on the 'big screen'. In 3D.

Even though I was a bit wary about the whole thing to begin with, I soon found myself immersed in what was going on. Sure, the storyline was upside down and inside out in places, but if you switched off your brain and didn't look for plot holes, then you could just enjoy it for the entertainment factor alone. It had several 'Doctors' in it, for a start. I think many people were thrilled to see David Tennant back, as he seems to be a favourite among many fans. Myself included.

But for me, it was John Hurt that really made the episode. A fine actor, who made the role of the War Doctor convincing and believable. A much different character than the other Doctor's incarnations, but all three personalities worked well together in the context of the story.

I thought it was interesting how they chose to bring in Rose Tyler, albeit as the interface to the Moment weapon. The brief appearance of Tom Baker at the end is sure to have pleased a lot of fans too. There was certainly some cheering in the audience, anyway.

 So, was this a perfect, outstanding, unmissable episode? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes! I definitely think that watching it at the cinema is the reason though, purely for the atmosphere and shared laughs and cheers with all the fans there. You just don't get that at home. So, to me, it was worth the price of a cinema ticket just as a one-off event.

 

Steve Upham - Editor of Screaming Dreams Publishing

THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR REVIEW - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Image Copyright BBC 2013

Well... That was rather brilliant, wasn't it? As the title of this entry suggests, there will be spoilers in this review. As a series finale, and such an important story, it'd be almost impossible to review it without mentioning things that will spoil the episode for those who've yet to see it. If you're one of those, I suggest you turn away now - go to iPlayer and WATCH the episode. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Okay, so let's start at the beginning. What a pre-title sequence that was! A fans' dream come true. Although, I think, it was a bit overkill to show it all again near the end of the episode, but I'm not complaining too much. Seeing Clara almost meeting the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors was rather special, and was done in a rather clever way. Either by putting Jenna-Louise Coleman into footage of previous stories, or watching body doubles walk by her slightly out of focus. Of course, from a purely fan point of view, I must wonder what adventures she was interacting with. The corridor from which she views the Seventh Doctor never appeared in Dragonfire (the story from which the McCoy footage was lifted), and she appears to be looking through a window at the Fifth Doctor, even though he's in the Matrix ala Arc of Infinity. Minor quibble, but odd nonetheless. The most interesting part of this pre-title sequence, however, is Clara meeting the First Doctor on Gallifrey 'a very long time ago', as he ushers Susan into a TARDIS - the moment upon which every single episode of Doctor Who is based. It's amazingly well done, and confirms, for the first time on television, that the Doctor and Susan did leave Gallifrey together! (But there's a better twist to this scene coming up near the end of the episode - so we'll get there later.)

Despite these appearances of past Doctors, it takes a good ten minutes for the Doctor to actually get involved in the story-proper, since we have more screen time devoted to Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax. This, in itself, is no bad thing. I for one would love to see a spin-off series with these characters - a nice Victorian Gothic-comedy-detective series. Vastra learns that someone has discovered the Doctor's secret on Trenzalore, and so initiates a psychic conference call with both Clara and River Song. It's brilliant to see River back, and this time the River we last saw in 2008's Silence in the Library - yes, the one who died to save the Doctor! It works perfectly well, she is an echo of River's mind that was uploaded to the moon-sized hard drive orbiting the Library. It's another amazing performance by Alex Kingston, possibly her best yet, and it is nice to see her playing the more mature, and sad, River who we first met. There's some wonderful interaction between River and Clara, who is surprised to learn that River knows the Doctor's name, although River refuses to explain how she made him tell her.

Enter the Doctor. Another assured and reserved performance by Matt Smith - easily his best yet. He taps into the Doctor's soul-destroying sadness, but still carries the iron resolve one expects from the Doctor, when he determines to go to Trenzalore and face his own future. For it is on Trenzalore that the Doctor is buried. Or is he? It's a little complicated when he gets there, and we're shown the impressive monument in which the Doctor's future resides. The TARDIS! 

What a sight it is! The dimensional dams have broken down, and as a result the Police Box shell is now bigger on the outside, towering over the graveyard of Trenzalore. We follow the Doctor and Clara through this future TARDIS interior, with scenes that are by far more interesting than those shown a few weeks back in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, and Clara begins to remember what she forgot in that episode, including the conversation she had with the Doctor in which she discovered that he keeps on meeting her. The reason for this is finally revealed when they reach the console room of this future TARDIS - which is the current console room, only overgrown with foliage. This is a bit of a puzzle. If this is far in the Doctor's personal future, why is the console room still his current one? The Doctor goes through console rooms like most people go through socks, you'd expect this future console room to be something entirely new and previously unseen.

In this console room we see that, instead of his body ('bodies are boring...I've had loads of them'), the TARDIS tomb holds the Doctor's time stream, the 'scar tissue of my journey through space and time'. There the Great Intelligence (played with sinister panache by Richard E Grant) casts himself into the Doctor's timeline, to corrupt and destroy it - turning every victory of the Doctor into defeat. And it is here that we learn the truth about Clara. She comes to realise the reason for the echoes of her is because of this moment - that she has to cast herself into the Doctor's timeline and save him. It is at this point that we come to understand why she exists throughout time, always encountering the Doctor, and why she tells the Doctor to 'run, you clever boy. And remember me'. I do, however, have a little quibble here. Up until this point none of the Claras have known the Doctor when they met him - although they have all been compelled to help him. But when she's scattered and interacts with the past Doctors, she appears to know who he is, even to the point of telling the First Doctor that he should steal the TARDIS she's standing by, and not the one he just pushed Susan into. It may have a faulty directional unit, but it will be much more fun! Basically, it's Clara who sets the Doctor on his journey through time in his 'rackety old TARDIS'. This point does contradict what we learned in 2011's The Doctor's Wife, when the TARDIS tells the Doctor that she stole him, and not the other way around. A minor point, but still... It doesn't take away from the greatness of the moment, though, seeing the First Doctor on Gallifrey prior to the very first episode of Doctor Who fifty years ago.

The First Doctor steals the TARDIS from Gallifrey
(image copyright BBC 2013)

This sets the scene for the final moments of what, we discover, is actually the first of a two-part anniversary story. Set within the Doctor's time stream, Clara sees echoes of various Doctors, and every single Doctor is seen in some way or another, except the Eighth Doctor. Why this omission? The Doctor follows Clara into his own time stream, his 'every good day, every bad day'. Here Clara explains that she's seen ALL the Doctors, all eleven of him, so who is that man standing with his back to them? 

The surprise reveal is John Hurt - playing 'not the Doctor', despite the on screen credit. The Doctor makes a point of saying that this man is not the Doctor, but rather his secret, the one who broke the promise. Did everything that isn't the Doctor. It's a little vague, but enough to suggest that John Hurt's character is the truth behind the Doctor, the man he really is, the man he was, the identity hidden beneath the façade of 'the Doctor'...

So, my verdict? I have to confess I rather loved it. For the first time since Steven Moffat took over as executive producer, I've seen an episode I actually loved. I'm not saying it's perfect (name one episode of Who that is), but it's certainly something I can watch a few times without getting bored. The interaction with past Doctors was wonderfully handled, even to the point of adding grain to the screen to give it an old video-tape look, and we got to see River say her final goodbye to the Doctor. Plus the ever-entertaining Strax! But, here's my one big gripe: what secret was revealed? Other than John Hurt, we never got the Doctor's greatest secret revealed to us. No name was uttered (except by River out of earshot), no further clues as to Who the Doctor is. Just that we know he dies in battle on Trenzalore, and deep within his timeline exists the man behind the myth - the dark secret. We did, however, get a mention of the Valeyard ('every evil impulse of the Doctor' who appeared in 1986's The Trial of a Time Lord), which may be an important connection to this John Hurt not-Doctor.

Perhaps the second part of this story, in November, will be more enlightening?

Also, one last time, why no Eighth Doctor? I wonder...

Image Copyright BBC 2013

Andy Frankham-Allen

NIGHTMARE IN SILVER REVIEW - TREK WHO?

Copyright BBC 2013

The Cybermen have always been, to me at least, better as a concept than reality. And their best and most chilling iteration so far has been, sad to say, not in Doctor Who - but, rather the Borg (don't scream). Their back story, continuity and modus operandi is a complete mess (are they the result of transplant tech gone mad, mere "upgrades" to the human form, with a totally robotic body? Both, it seems). So here's Neil Gaiman with yet another twist in the Cybertale - but does it work?

Yes and no, but mostly no. Most of the tweaks are laughable - and that is a shame as the last thing you want is to make the Cybermen funny. Chortle as you watch them run faster than Billy Whizz on crack! (But they only do this once, and spend the rest of the time stomping about as per, so what's the point? Raston Warrior Robots also spring to mind.) Titter as a Cyberman unhands itself and goes all Hand of Fear! Gasp with utter disbelief as a Cyberman TAKES ITS HEAD OFF, props it on a wall and uses it as bait as it creeps up on someone! This, if you think about it for half a second, is utterly pointless. Wouldn't the victim hear the Cyberman's clompy boots? And Cybermen are (meant to be) so powerful that they would not need to engage in such playground tactics. They'd just stomp up to you and rip your head off. Now that would have been cool. I'm not saying Doctor Who should indulge in gratuitous violence, but if the remit was to make the Cybermen scary again, they should have been shown doing something REALLY nasty, not fart-arsing around with bits of their bodies. The bleeding hands of Lytton spring immediately to mind.

It's not all bad, though - their new look is great, as are their deep voices. Sinister. And their ability to upgrade in the face of any new threat is cool, though it does make one immediately think of the Borg. As does the Cyber hive mind, or whatever its called, make one think of the Borg Collective. Also, the shots of millions of Cybermen on the march are very impressive. Best of all are the Cybermites, a genuinely great idea which makes logical sense and seems to fit well with Cyber mythology.

As for the story - er, what story? "ONOZ! It's the Cybermen! They've upgraded! Now there's three million of them! BOOM! Phew!" What was the point of bringing them back if only to get rid of them again?

Of course, there's more to it than that, and that is where the central flaw of the story lies. The Doctor and Mr Clever. This could have been his Locutus of Borg moment, but instead we just get a hyper-camp performance from Matt Smith which never, not once, feels like the Doctor is in any danger. Matt Smith is a great actor, and a great Doctor, but I think he missed a trick here, taking his performance the wrong way. Imagine what Tom Baker would have done with this. Or Christopher Eccleston. They'd have us terrified that the Doctor was going to lose. Idle speculation, certainly, but I think Smith's performance ruined what could have been a tense and frightening story.

Clara is weird here, taking command of a rag-tag bunch of troops and not even batting an eyelid. She gets a lovely scene with Warwick Davis' character at the end. In fact, Davis gives the best performance and is the most interesting, layered character in the story. The others? Jason Watkins is totally wasted, Tamzin Outwhaite and her crew of misfits are totally forgettable, and the kids - whilst not completely nauseating - represent a missed opportunity. One of them should have been converted or killed - imagine the powerful scenes between the Doctor and Clara after - but no, once again this story decides to play it safe.

The setting – an abandoned amusement park in space – is typical Gaiman but never convinces as a real location, and SCREAMS – SCREAMS!!! – McCoy era Doctor Who. Within which there was another silly story about Cybermen with Silver in the title, and if I’m being honest, I have to say I prefer that to this.

Nick Walters is the author of several Doctor Who novels including The Fall of Yquatine and Dry Pilgrimage.

HIDE REVIEW: PUTTING THE BOO BACK INTO DOCTOR WHO

Padding down the hallway, spilling coffee, I heard the announcer announce, as announcers do, that Doctor Who would be on in a moment and it was time to hide behind the sofa. Do kids actually do that anymore? This is something I’ve been wondering lately. My cynical self’s been wondering of late if the brand and all those tacky plastic free-gift Daleks on the front of Doctor Who mags are detracting from one of the show’s most important jobs; to scare the crap out of kids. It’s part of the thrill.It's part of the legacy. As the the announcer proved, it's a shared cultural memory.

Watching the trailer for this week’s episode, Hide, I’d thought, OK, it’ll be The Haunting of Hill House minus the scares. The ghost’ll turn out to be nice and it’ll collapse under the weight of its own banality, crumbling into a schmaltz-fest that’ll result in me turning into the kind of bitter individual who ends up writing jaded things like this.

But no. Well, yes in a way too because there was a distinct nod to The Haunting of Hill House with the ghostly crashes and bangs, and yes the ghost was nice, so I can – and will –  look a little smug but the episode was an excellent surprise. It was actually scary and didn’t rely on tired cinematic devices to achieve this. Instead, with its small cast, claustrophobic interiors and dark look it successfully created an atmosphere of foreboding, much more so than last week’s Cold War episode which, despite taking place on a submarine, really didn’t capture that sense of isolation.

Earlier in the day I’d popped in to see friends. On hearing that I was to be writing this their nine-year-old daughter vanished upstairs and returned with her arms full of Doctor Who collectables and toys. I asked whether the Cold War episode had scared her and she simply shrugged, wrinkled her nose and thoughtfully shook her head. I wonder what she made of this week’s episode?

It’s the first episode I’ve seen in some time that had support characters which were genuinely engaging. Emma Grayling, as played by Jessica Raine, and Dougray Scott as Professor  Alec Palmer, were shrouded in such a palpable aura of sadness. Isolation, doubt, guilt and fear were the real 'monsters' in this episode. The themes of love, seperation and aloneness were executed with an assured subtleness that proved such a welcome change from spending an hour being repeatedly beaten around the head with a ‘message,’ quite often to the point where I sit, concussed, watching the final credits roll and wondering if I should go along to A&E and get checked for head trauma.

Something’s changed about Matt Smith’s Doctor too. I’m going to step forward and say that I believe he’s a great Doctor, which has only fueled my frustration with the show because it’s all felt like a massive missed opportunity. Last night, and the first two thirds of The Rings of Akhaten (or up until the cosmic sing-along bit) – both by writer, Neil Cross, have provided a glimpse of how good the show really could be. Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara is really shaping up to be a memorable companion and not just a fresh-off-the-production-line two-dimensional ‘feisty woman.’ As Emma Grayling points out, Clara is more scared than she lets on. So it seems is the Doctor, and perhaps this is what feels different about him; at times he appears full of doubt and painfully vulnerable. In Hide his quirkiness came across as a mask, a performance for those around him. When alone in the pocket universe that mask momentarily slips revealing a completely different Doctor. Perhaps the most chilling moment for me came when Emma Grayling tells Clara not to trust the Doctor; that he has a sliver of ice in his heart. That alone has got me tuning in next week.

Good to see a few 'whovian pleasers' in there as well. There were references to The Eye of Harmony and the blue crystal of Metebelis, stolen by the Doctor in The Green Death and later returned in The Planet of the Spiders – which, incidentally, were two of the first Doctor Who episodes I can clearly remember seeing as a kid, both of which scared me, as they should! The orange spacesuit from The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit got an outing too, albeit a brief one. Actually it looked in need of a good boil wash.

After Hide I went online for a little research and came across an interview with Neil Cross conducted recently by SFX magazine, and what do I find? Refering to Hide he speaks about his desire to make a really scary episode, one that produces in the audience, and especially in children within the nine to twelve years old bracket, the same response to the show that he experienced as a child of around the same age; terror. He adds that one of his influences for Hide was the cult British show Quatermass, which, he goes on to say, Doctor Who owes a lot to Quatermass was another show that terrified me as a kid, although, being so young I remember the 1970s Thames Television outing starring John Mills rather than the original. No comments please. The show, like Hide, had a very grainy, almost colourless look and used atmosphere to build tension, rather than in-your-face shocks.

Towards the end of last night's episode I could feel myself begin to tense up as I waited for the feel-good, schmaltz ridden ending, and yes it did lean towards that a little but in a very understated way that felt unforced and consistent with the rest of the episode. All in all the best, and most suprising, episode I've seen in a while. Let Neil Cross do more, I say. He's putting the much needed 'Boo!' back in Doctor Who.

 

Richard Kelly

THE RINGS OF AKHATEN REVIEW

Well, episode number 2 of this second half of the season just aired. 'The Rings Of Akhaten' initially seemed to be an Egyptian or Arabic themed story, judging by it's promotional images, but I found it had more in common with earlier RTD-era stories, notably, the Ninth Doctor story, 'The End Of The World' and to a lesser extent, the Tenth Doctor story, 'Gridlock'.

It's probably too soon to say, but with a new look for the titles/opening theme, TARDIS and a new companion, I sensed a sort of repeat of a formulaic approach. Last week's showy, fast-paced, London-centric episode reminded me of the very first 2005 episode, 'Rose', while this one was like 'The End Of The World' in a few ways - it seemed to be cheaper, studio-based (save for a few opeing location shots), and a little less substantial, story wise. Almost as if they needed a smaller 'aside' to pad out the series before the heavy hitters come in (Ice Warriors next week, folks!).

Instant reactions to the episode from comments I've read on Facebook and Twitter suggest that it wasn't well liked at all. Some compared it to 'The Beast Below' as there were small similarities.

Simply put, the Doctor is first seen at key moments in Clara Oswald's life: as he seems to be intrigued by her recent appearances in his, he is shown observing Clara's parents on the day they meet and (rather creepily) as they take their child out to the park. Then later at the funeral of Clara's mother.

The Doctor comes back to present-day, where he picks Clara up and asks her to pick a destination. She just says, "somewhere awesome!" and they step out on The Rings Of Akhaten - literally a billion bits of rock circling a giant planet. Clara sees a shining pyramid in the distance and asks to visit it.

Soon they are wandering round an alien-filled town and Clara is enjoying all the sights and sounds, when, for no adequately explained reason, the Doctor nips off for a second, leaving Clara alone. She sees a frightened child named Mary who seems to be running from someone.

It turns out that she is part of an ages-old ritual where the aliens sing a never-ending lullaby to keep some kind of powerful, soul-eating 'deity' asleep. Clara persuades Mary to be confident and perform her duties, and soon The Doctor and Clara are watching the ceremony, when it seems to go awry. Mary is dragged off her feet and away into the air.

The Doctor and Clara jump onto a 'Flash Gordon styled flying bike and set out to rescue her. Nothing major happens, apart from door/sonic srewdriver shenanigans, quickly-despatched threats and the whole story is rounded off with the Doctor offering his 1000 years of memories as a kind of supersized meal to the fiery CGI monster planet, while Clara offers a leaf of great sentimental value. All's well that ends well then.

While not terrible, it's not terribly exciting either. I'm not sure what the budget was on FX, CGI or costumes (a lot of alien suits here), it felt like one of the cheaper, thrown-together episodes.

Acting performances were good but not as sizzling as last week's episode. I'm sure the demographic audience of children liked it enough, but it seemed to lack a certain 'oomph' - no real threats, no deep drama, and the 'love conquers all' schmaltzy ending has been done much better before, elsewhere in WHO (The Empty Child for example?)

I gave it a 4 out of 10

Terry Cooper