EP.5: TIME HEIST REVIEW

Flashback to 2006: Tooth and Claw was promoted as having a modern Tarantino-esque feel, with exciting bullet-time monks. The reality was a great episode, with the bullet-time monks limited to the first few minutes. I was reminded of this with Time Heist, heavily promoted as taking inspiration from Ocean's Eleven and other modern heist movies; it certainly managed this for the first twenty minutes, with some very clever pacing and scene transitions, but, like Tooth and Claw before it, it quickly turned into a standard run-around. The direction in the first half was certainly a highlight of the season so far, but unfortunately fell short by giving up midway through.

The story was enjoyable and rattled along at a great pace. Everything hung together well, without feeling like it needed slowing down for any missed examination of the characters or plot, neither did it leave too many moments to breathe - much of modern Who has struggled to get the balance here just right, but Time Heist did well in this regard. The twists were, on the one hand a surprise (the clones), and on the other entirely predictable (cloaked figure with masked voice, who appeared alongside a memory wipe, turns out to be one of the main characters, and the 'exit strategy' being exactly what it says on the tin), but each was handled in such a fun way that this really didn't matter much.

The focus on characterisation is still clearly heavily on the new Doctor, and to an extent Clara, with supporting characters suffering as a result. The two allies were very forgettable (pun very much intended) and while the actors did well the script didn't serve to make them much more than two dimensional.

With Moffat's well-known (pre-2010, at least) clever-yet-coherent script in action, Capaldi relishing every new dimension his Doctor gets given, some beautiful visuals and some exciting direction (for twenty minutes), Time Heist could be an absolute classic. A few shortfalls here and there let it down from this, but it's certainly continuing the consistently high standard set for this season so far.

Matt Dale

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

COMPANIONS: FIFTY YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO ASSISTANTS

Cover art by Terry Cooper, Copyright Candy Jar Publishing

Curiosity Piqued: 

A Non-fan's Review

Not being a fan of Doctor Who¸ I was not keen when asked to read and review Andy Frankham-Allen’s Companions: Fifty years of Doctor Who Assistants. However, having an interest in trying new things and having read Andy’s novel, Seeker, I agreed to give it a go. 

Companions is an unofficial detailed guide about every Doctor Who companion’s adventures throughout the first twenty six years on TV, running from 1963 – 1989, the 1996 television movie and the seven series of Doctor Who from 2005 to present day, as well as including the  journeys of these companions in novels, comics and radio (otherwise known as the Expanded Universe). Andy has structured Companions in a way that makes it easy for the reader to distinguish between each companion and not get lost and confused between which companion travelled with which Doctor, having two chapters per Doctor, one for the TV show and the other looking at their Expanded Universe adventures.

He immediately grabs your attention when discussing Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter and very first companion. From Susan to Ben & Polly, the last of the first Doctor’s companions, I was already curious about the TV show and even tempted to watch an episode. Andy gives a very detailed account of each of these companion’s journeys and relationships with the Doctor, allowing me to understand what sort of characters they were and how they reacted in tough situations and adjusted to life travelling with a Time Lord.

I feel that Andy really comes into his element when he reaches the companions of the Third Doctor, particularly when looking at Sarah Jane Smith and Jo Grant/Jones, their sections taking up multiple pages where Andy goes into tremendous detail and insight about their adventures and close friendships with the Doctor.  This continues through to the seventh Doctor, increasing my interest in the show and the feeling that I need to try watching it, as his descriptions of the characters help me picture and understand what they go through. Andy does not, however, reveal everything that happens with these companions, leaving any reader curious and wanting to find out what particularly happened in certain adventures and how they responded to the Doctor’s reactions. Andy gives enough information to help a reader develop an interest for the many companions, and leaves enough room for them to create opinions for themselves, especially about the more interesting companions (my favourites being Leela, Romana, Nyssa, Tegan, Peri and Ace).

Up to the end of the Seventh Doctor, the end of the original twenty-six-year run, the Expanded Universe entries have not been as gripping as the chapters on the TV show, until he gets to Ace. Andy explains how Ace is one of the most storied companions ever, living at least three different lives and he goes into great detail about each of these stories. He looks at Ace’s journeys in The New Adventures, Big Finish, and the story Ground Zero. It is Andy’s description in these particular stories that first made me consider looking at the Expanded Universe as well as the TV show, curious to see how other writers perceive and adapt the many companions of Doctor Who. My curiosity for the Expanded Universe grew further when Andy came to talk about the adventures of the Eighth Doctor, who, apart from the 1996 TV movie, was only featured in the Expanded Universe, which helped to keep the story alive from 1997 – 2005 before it’s return on TV. Andy divides this chapter into three key sections, In Prose, On Audio, and In Comics. In this chapter we meet new companions that never appear on screen and, considering this, I am thinking of looking for the stories that feature these companions after watching the TV show, just to fully understand those that helped the story of Doctor Who stay alive in the eight years off air.

This brings us to 2005 and the Nu Who. I remember watching the first episode as it aired on TV and thinking that this show was an interesting idea. However, as the episodes continued I slowly lost interest, only watching an episode every now and then, before stopping completely when David Tennant became the Tenth Doctor. Andy’s entries on the companions of the three Doctors of Nu Who have filled me in on what I missed and I must say I am sorry that I did. His entry of Rose with the Ninth Doctor reminded me of the episodes I had watched and revealed the ones I missed, sparking my interest in Doctor Who all over again. 

The chapter for the Tenth Doctor is the longest in the book looking at five different companions in huge detail, revealing more about the families of the companions than those of the first eight Doctors. The show seems to have become more about the companions and their lives rather than the Doctor’s, giving Andy much more to write about and he engages the readers through his simple structure following the companions in the order they appear in the show, some companions, such as Donna and Captain Jack have more than one entry having left the show and returning later. By the time I reached the chapters on the Eleventh Doctor, I have to say I felt sad that I was coming to the end of Andy’s guide having been fully caught up in Doctor Who. As Gary Russell says in the Foreword the viewers identify with the companions of the show and aspire to be them so they can help the Doctor, I feel that Andy brings this across and any reader can easily relate to the companions he talks about. He leaves the Expanded Universe of the last three Doctor’s till the last chapter, merging all three, and even writes an extract about the Brigadier who helps the Doctor in some of his adventures working for UNIT. Any reader can tell that Andy has thoroughly researched Doctor Who, watching every episode and exploring the Expanded Universe so he can write a truthful, detailed guide to every companion. He even writes about spin-off shows that focus on particular companions, such as The Sarah Jane Adventures, K9 & Company and Torchwood (the last looks at the story of Captain Jack). 

Waterstone's Signing - Image Copyright Steve Upham

Andy has worked extremely hard and I can say it has been a success, because he has made at least one reader want to watch Doctor Who and look at the Expanded Universe characters as well, so well done Andy.

I would recommend the book to anyone, be they fans or, like me, willing to be convinced. It is worth it.

Companions: Fifty Years of Doctor Who Assistants is available from all good book stockists or directly from Candy Jar Publishing for only £8.99 + p&p.

http://www.candy-jar.co.uk/books/companions.html

  

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

THE CRIMSON HORROR REVIEW: TROUBLE AT MILL?

On first seeing the trailer for this week’s episode, The Crimson Horror, Penny from The Big Bang Theory popped into my head with that line about Doctor Who always ending up in Victorian Britain despite having a time machine that can go anywhere. I had that same ‘Here we go again’ feeling, further compounded by the thought that this was going to be one of those seemingly throw-away genre episodes like The Curse of the Black Spot. When I found out it was Mark Gatiss at the motherboard I had mixed feelings; love his dark comedy writings but then there’s The Idiot’s Lantern, one of my least favourite episodes. My disappointment lay in the knowledge that here’s a man who knows how to write ‘dark’ extremely well and yet seemed to be a holding back. I know you can’t dish the kids up a helping of The League of Gentlemen in a Blue Box - not unless you can also afford their counselling sessions – but still, it felt like a swig of diluted Mark Gatiss.

Not so The Crimson Horror, which was like Mark Gatiss concentrate. Now here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to enthuse for a bit, sometimes gushingly so, and then I’m not. Just so you know. Anyway, The Crimson Horror was pure Gatiss, combining his love for Doctor Who with that of Hammer films and Sherlock Holmes – the title itself is not only reminiscent of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation but it also brings to mind the Victorian ‘penny dreadfuls.’ His fascination with Victorian England is one that lingers on the grotesque, very much like David Lynch’s in The Elephant Man. The scene where Ada’s scars are revealed to a gasping audience is, it appears, a direct nod to the film.

Setting the episode in the Victorian north rather than the usual London locations proved to be an inspired touch as not only did we get Matt Smith’s Doctor busting out his northern accent but the obsession with moral perfection, so prevalent in the Industrial Revolution’s northern factory communities, contrasted beautifully with the grotesque. The hypocrisy of those demanding such moral perfection was, thankfully, subtly explored through the relationship between Ada and her breathtakingly insane mother, Winifred Gillyflower, played by off-screen mother and daughter, Diana Rigg and Rachael Stirling.

On hearing that this episode had been tailored to allow mother and daughter to appear on screen together for the first time I had my misgivings (I get a lot of those. Does it show? Let’s call it Moffatitus), as that being the motivating force behind a story can result in the whole venture feeling a little too forced. It transpires, however, that they were slotted into an already existing story, and a ripping good yarn it was.

Beginning the episode with the Doctor in need of rescuing felt like a fresh approach and added to the growing sense that the Doctor is vulnerable; an invincible, undefeatable Doctor doesn’t really work for me, it’s the Superman syndrome, the character becomes a bit boring. Having the Doctor be the Hammer Horror ‘beast in the cellar’ hooked me; a masterful bit of storytelling. It wasn’t only the writing that won through here though; the flashback scene really intrigued me for the reason that it was so risky. For a moment it jolted me out of the story, the sepia look and the damaged-celluloid effects felt too affected, but then the pace and editing had me hooked again and I ended up wishing that the show would take more risks. I believe a shout out is due to Director, Saul Metzstein, and Film Editor, Matthew Cannings, for this.

Overall The Crimson Horror proved to be hugely entertaining. It was fun. It was also genuinely funny. The scene with Strax talking to the horse and the Doctor’s Pythonesque‘trouble at mill’ northern facade were very funny, as was the Doctor’s reference to Tegan as a ‘gobby Australian’ – following this up with the Doctor calling Clara ‘Brave heart Clara’, another Tegan nod, left me wondering if we now know who Mark Gatiss’ favourite companion is. Mr. Sweet was both hysterical and repulsive; calling him Mr. Sweet was genius and resulted in some wonderfully absurd dialogue. The whole Hammer Horror feel took me back to when I were a nipper – sorry, couldn’t resist – and BBC2 used to show a late-night Saturday horror movie double bill. Diana Rigg delivered a spectacularly mad and unrepentant villainess, and the inclusion of Strax, Vastra and Jenny from The Snowmen worked well, thankfully avoiding the saccharine commraderie-cliches that usually accompany such team-ups.

But then it all went horribly wrong, or least threatened to. Clara returns home to find that the children she is looking after have discovered she’s a time traveller through the eye-rollingly coincidental discovery of conveniently posed photos from all her adventures. No, really, it’s OK, I can make this square peg fit into this round hole, don’t worry. All I need is a hammer and a chainsaw. Look! It fits! The whole thing felt forced and I could feel my Moffatitus playing up again. A couple of wise-cracking kids in the TARDIS? Please, no. I sense that there may indeed be ‘trouble at mill.’

Richard Kelly

THE BELLS OF SAINT JOHN REVIEW

 

Ringing in the new season...

Despite being a split ‘season’ on paper, this was without doubt a series opener. It had all the spectacle one expects from the opening instalment, introducing all the key plot points that will carry on through the next seven episodes (Clara’s mysterious origins, the villain behind this story [spoiler alert – do not read the final paragraph if you haven’t seen this episode yet]), and yet somehow managed to tell a nice little story, feeding into people's fear of technology and concern over the way the Internet has made the world so small.

In tone, this episode felt more like a RTD adventure than a Moffat one, which for me was a nice change of pace – being more of a fan of RTD’s era than Moffat’s. Nonetheless, the usual Moffat flourishes are here – a new companion with a convoluted back-story (although, even after only three appearances, the mystery surrounding Clara [not‘Oswin’ – a name she hasn’t even heard of when the Doctor first appears at her front door, but one she does come up with later after scoring a win – an oswin] is much more intriguing than anything done with Amy Pond), movie-inspired moments that are there more for spectacle than plot (the plane crashing towards Clara’s house, and the Doctor subsequently flying it away, and the Doctor riding his anti-grav bike up the Shard), and some clever continuity references (most notably the book ‘Summer Falls’ written by Amelia Williams [Clara’s favourite chapter being eleven], and the appearance of UNIT, an ‘old friend’ of the Big Bad), not to mention some nice nods to real-world events such as the London Riots of 2011 and the Police Box in Earl’s Court.

It’s a good idea – using the ubiquitous Wifi as a way of alien invasion, and it’s the kind of idea Doctor Who does well, subverting something everyday into something malevolent. This is not a new trope of Doctor Who – indeed, it’s been a staple of the best kind of episodes since the ‘60s (and became an almost weekly occurrence during Barry Letts era of 1970-75). Granted, this does lead to the oh-so-exciting visual of two hackers going neck to neck via typing extremely fast on a keyboard. Fortunately it’s not a major piece of the episode, so it’s not overdone, but it was predictable and proves, once more, than it’s not much of a dramatic visual.

No review would be complete without a word or two about our lead man. This is now Matt Smith’s fourth year in the role, and it’s most certainly going to prove to be his most important year, since Doctor Who celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in November – and for the most part Matt Smith will be carrying the series through this milestone of television history. No pressure there. As the recent announcement of David Tennant’s return suggests, Smith will not be the only actor portraying the Doctor this anniversary year, so at least he’ll have some support, but, in some respects, he’s going to have an awful lot to live up to. If this episode proves anything, he’ll carry us through the year magnificently. Without doubt, Smith is so comfortable in the role now – the excesses of previous years have been toned down – he dominates the screen from the moment he pulls down his monk’s hood right up to the final moment of him running around the TARDIS console. And the chemistry between him and Jenna-Louise Coleman is superb – it sparkles! There is much that can be said of his on-screen chemistry with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the previous three years, but it pales in comparison to the way he and Coleman connects. We saw much of the same in last year’s The Snowmen, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Whatever the mystery is surrounding Clara, I’m looking forward to the journey. Watching these two is a pure joy.

SPOILER ALERT!

It’s impossible not to mention the reveal of the intelligence behind the invasion of the Wifi. We saw the creation of it on Christmas Day – and no, it isn’t the Saviour of Man. It is, in fact, the Great Intelligence, previously seen in two Patrick Troughton stories (in 1967’s The Abominable Snowmen and 1968’s The Web of Fear). It calls UNIT an old friend, a nice link to The Web of Fear, since it was that story which lead to the formation of UNIT, but the best thing about the return of the Great Intelligence in the anniversary year is having Richard E Grant continue to voice it (as per The Snowmen). For a short period, in 2003, Grant was the Doctor, in the webcast, Scream of the Shalka, but his position as official Ninth Doctor was overwritten by the series return in 2005 and the casting of Christopher Eccleston. So it’s a nice touch that Grant makes such an important contribution this year – and yes, as indicated by the end of this episode, we’ve clearly not seen the last of the Great Intelligence.

Bottom Line:This is quite possibly the most assured episode of Doctor Who since Matt Smith took over the reins.

Andy Frankham-Allen