Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

I may be in the minority here, but I can totally relate to what the Doctor experiences at the end of the show... Many times when I just didn't even know what to say when faced with someone's suffering, not because I didn't understand the severity of it, but because I felt unable to immediately offer any words that were appropriate for the severity of the situation...

 

Not suggesting it was unrelatable/unrealistic. For me it is a trait that I most commonly associate with Matt Smith's Doctor (fully aware that it is not unique to him alone) and feel that it's time for the character to grow.

 

A classic location visited today!

 

Spearhead from Space

 

Yup! Good job I didn't strip off and don a shower cap...

 

OK... that was the best episode for me of the 13th Doctor!

 

Spoiler

This one was OK, in general. It had good points and not-so-good points.
I have a couple of questions regarding the promo for next week's show. BBC America's tagline was that it starts the season finale where "Everything Changes...Again". First, why does the season finale always have to be some massive, game-changing story? Admittedly, I was raised in the era when story-arcs were all but unknown and there was no "season finale". They just had the last show of the season and we went to re-runs until September, assuming the show was renewed. Even more than this, though, is I have the feeling that the finale will involve this whole Timeless Child mystery, and it'll end up like the Hybrid mystery: big build-up, nothing finish, and it has no further effect on the plot.
One more question that I've had frequently in the NuWho era: has the human species accomplished anything without the Doctor's intervention, either directly or as a side effect? So, now we pretty much have to thank the Doctor for Boris Karloff's career?

 

Just finished watching it. I liked it - one of the better ones so far.

 

Best episode of Jodie's entire era (so far!) for me.

 

I liked the first half , the haunted house story worked well , then a cyberman turned up and I didn't really understand what he was doing. might watch it again.

 

Spoiler

As yet unknown...

 

Belated Happy Birthday to...

 

Attempting to retrieve the Cyberium.
Which is required to restore the Cybermen.

 

For anyone who's interested, here are my reviews for Series 11. Will post my Series 12 reviews when the series ends.

11.1 - The Woman Who Fell to Earth // Review

Spoiler

Director: Jamie Childs
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Tosin Cole
Bradley Walsh
Sharon D. Clarke
Samuel Oatley
Johnny Dixon

The Woman Who Fell to Earth introduces the Thirteenth Doctor proper, along with her new companions Ryan, Yaz and Graham, with Graham's wife and Ryan's grandmother Grace assisting them as they take on a ruthless warrior named Tzim-Sha from the Stenza race.

This hour-long episode does well to juggle the five main characters, introduces a pretty decent villain and offers stunning visuals with a completely new tone for the show. The initial half of the episode does well to set up a small mystery and threat in the form of the electric-tentacled-orb that Ryan and Yaz discover and the Doctor has to save them all from on a train. The plot makes sense, with Ryan and Yaz leading the Doctor, Graham and Grace to the orb which then leads them to Tzim-Sha, who's attempting to kill Karl (a crane operator who we first see in the train scene). The plot is simple, but moves at a very steady pace and has a clear point to it. Grace's death is valiant, she manages to destroy the coiled orb creature but falls to her death in doing so - adding emotional weight to this first adventure and leaving Graham widowed. Tzim-Sha is defeated quite easily, which does, unfortunately, detract from the threat he offered at the beginning of the episode, it's a little anti-climatic.

All of the characters are very likeable, but mostly the companions. Graham gives a beautiful speech at Grace's funeral, and has some funny dialogue 'Why are we running towards the alien?'. Ryan tries as hard as he can to learn how to ride a bike, something he struggles with through his dyspraxia. He also makes a point of referring to Graham and not 'granddad', and we see at Grace's funeral that he is repeatedly let down by his father who didn't even attend the funeral - adding some potential room for character development. Yaz is a plucky young police officer who dreams of handling more serious events than simple parking disputes. That desire of 'more to life' from her echoes from past companions and builds up the excitement to watching how she handles travelling in time and space through the series. The Doctor is mostly likeable, I enjoyed watching her wind up Tzim-Sha, and tinker to create a sonic screwdriver as well as a transport pod, but I felt some of the dialogue and indeed the way Whittaker performs the line tries too hard to be like Tennant and Smith's incarnations. I understand comparisons between Doctors will always be established, but I didn't get this feeling of riffing off old Doctors in Tennant, Smith's and Capaldi's debuts. Karl was a good supporting character as well, I liked the whole 'I wouldn't mind leaving, actually' in the train scene, and everyone else just being like 'fair enough', found that amusing.

The settings were cool and I liked the cinematography. The scenes on the field/ hills where Ryan is learning how to ride a bike provided a nice backdrop, the train scenes built suspense well with the orb creature getting closer and closer and the quarry scenes are where it reaches its peak and there's a sense of real danger.

Overall, The Woman who Fell to Earth is a decent opener that establishes the group of characters, with the companions being the strongest. Tzim-Sha is a decent villain that warranted a comeback right from the off and I felt the tone of the series was set well. Better dialogue for the Doctor, a better performance from Whittaker and better thought out resolution would have given this episode an extra edge.

6/10

11.2 The Ghost Monument // Review

Spoiler

The Ghost Monument

Spoiler

sees the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham helping Angstrom and Epzo to finish the final race, set up by Ilin. The race involves crossing a planet named Desolation and reaching the Ghost Monument, which is, in reality, the TARDIS.

The plot is mainly a good idea, with the Doctor and co having to survive Desolation and the entire episode building towards the Doctor reaching the TARDIS gives it purpose. Ilin's role being so vague felt like a bit of a cop-out, however, and the bit with the Sniper Bots didn't feel realistic with how much they were missing shots in such an open space. They discover that the civilization on Desolation was forced by the Stenza to create weapons and horrors, which laid waste to the planet and earned it its name of Desolation. I love lore-building, so I enjoyed this explanation and little nod but felt there could have been more to have expanded upon it. Carvings in the wall showing the Stenza, or some sort of device that shows the Doctor and her companions what happened years ago, with the audience being given a flashback sequence where the Stenza imprison the scientists and make them work on the creatures and horrors that destroyed the planet's natural state. But I suppose there was 'too much to cover' without putting that in. There's an enjoyable moment where genetically-engineered rags (only in Doctor Who!) almost kill the group, and call the Doctor the 'Timeless Child', before the group use Epzo's Althusian cigar to light and destroy them all. The gang, as well as Angstrom and Epzo, manage to finish the race, with the latter two being persuaded by the Doctor to announce themselves as joint winners, something Ilin accepts after threats from Epzo. The Doctor and co see the newly-redecorated TARDIS for the first time, setting off for back home at the end of the episode. I don't like the look of the new TARDIS, I don't think we're given good enough shots of it, and I don't like the little walkway that extends the doors at the entrance.

The Doctor, Yaz, and Graham are on good form in this episode, with each having enough input. Angstrom and Epzo were decent supporting characters, with Shaun Dooley knocking it out of the park with his performance of Epzo. Unfortunately, Ryan was really irritating. Constantly knocking Graham's nice comments back, taking on the Sniper Bots because 'Call of Duty trained him for this' but then screeching and running back to his cover after failing to take the bots out, it's one of those silly moments designed to make the younger audience laugh but for me, it just fell flat. I felt that the Doctor was better in this than I remembered in the past. She had enough to say to Ilin, Angstrom, and Epzo, led her companions through the journey calmly and collectedly while teaching them facts about acetylene and easing them into the groove of solving mysteries/ dangers simultaneously. The 'Come to daddy, I mean mummy' line was funny and was a nice little nod to the gender-change without being over-the-top.

The visuals in this episode and setting were beautiful, it felt much different from the way previous episodes of Doctor Who have appeared with alien planets and it built upon the tone set in The Woman Who Fell to Earth well.

Overall, The Ghost Monument feels like it brushes over important aspects of the plot at times and doesn't give chance for the villains to shine, but it provides a visually pleasing spectacle, decent supporting characters and builds upon the opening episode well while leading us to the new-look TARDIS by the denouement.

7/10

11.3 - Rosa // Review

Spoiler

Director: Mark Torendal
Writers: Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Vinette Robinson
Joshua Bowman

Rosa is the third episode and takes place in Montgomery, Alabama during the Montgomery Bus boycott in 1955. The Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan must prevent Krasko, a time-traveling criminal from affecting Rosa's involvement in kicking off the civil rights movement.

The Doctor, struggling to get her companions back home, lands in Montgomery, Alabama the day before Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on the bus, which kicks off the civil rights movement. There they meet Rosa, who the Doctor can detect Artron energy from. They discover Krasko, a time-traveling criminal recently released from Stormcage who is hanging around Alabama. The Doctor and he have a face-off, where she realizes that he is unable to kill Rosa due to a neural restrictor implanted into him that prevents him from causing harm to any living thing. Instead, he's trying to prevent the events of Rosa refusing to stand up on the bus from happening. He's managed to convince James Blake to take a day off, but Graham and Ryan manage to manipulate him back into working on the day. Ryan discovers that Krasko has parked his car in the way of the bus, so he uses the temporal displacement weapon the Doctor robbed from him to send him back through time. Rosa gets on the bus as the plan goes by as normal, with the Doctor, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan having to stay on the bus as it happens and be part of the story to ensure it happens. At the end of the episode, the gang leaves, with the Doctor again attempting to get them home.

Graham, Ryan, and Yaz were on top form, with the latter two having to put up with really blatant and nasty racism, which I'm glad the episode didn't shy away from. I felt like both the Doctor and Krasko were pretty pointless which distracted from an otherwise enjoyable episode. The Doctor tells Krasko not to threaten her when he's done exactly that. He can't hurt anyone, so how did he manage to shoot at them intending to hurt them at the start? The Doctor takes the blatant racism her friends are facing every time, never losing her temper or fighting out against it. I understand being calm and focusing more on the task at hand is more her style, and she's still figuring herself out, but could you imagine any of the previous three Doctors allowing their friends to be so blatantly discriminated against? I couldn't. Rosa was played well by Vinette Robinson and I liked her characterization.

The setting of Alabama is much different from the previous episode of Desolation, the tone of the episode changing shakes things up nicely. It's a great backdrop for an episode.

Overall, Rosa tries to tell an important story but I feel like it falls flat. Some of the details don't match up to history, which is surprising considering Malorie Blackman wrote the episode. Both the Doctor and Krasko come across as being pointlessly involved, although the three companions are on good form still.

5/10

11.4 Arachnids in the UK // Review

Spoiler

Director: Sallie Aprahamian
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Chris Noth
Sharon D. Clarke
Shobna Gulati
Tanya Fear

Arachnids in the UK deals with genetically modified spiders in Sheffield. The Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan return home, with the companions deciding to continue traveling with the Doctor at the end of the episode.

Arachnids has quite a dull plot if I'm honest, I enjoyed it much more on the first watch than I did this time around, which was the opposite case for The Ghost Monument. I think the problem is that it's really obvious it's just genetically modified spiders right from the off, the plot has no twists or turns, or if it does you've seen them coming so long ago it doesn't register as a twist. The Trump-alike seems a year or two old already, and he's just not quite baddie enough to enjoy like for example, human villains such as Halpen from Planet of the Ood, which seems a comparable villain to me, maybe I'm in the minority there. The point is that the threat from Robertson is pretty much never felt, he's just a nasty, annoying man that's playing an outdated caricature. The scenes with Yaz and her family and the Doctor meeting them are fun and enjoyable, reminiscent of past companions from the RTD era which brings a more homely feel to the episode than was present in a lot of Moffat-era stories. Graham seeing Grace in the house as a memory was sad and did well to build upon his storyline. I felt like Graham mostly should have just sat this one out, as when he does get round to being with the others, he and Ryan just annoyingly stand gawping at Robertson. The spider's death is sad and I did feel the sadness from the Doctor in that, thought Whittaker mostly played this one well. The problem is the Doctor's control or even impact on the events feels like it falls flat around halfway through, and I felt like we were getting a less impactful/ useful version of Matt Smith's Doctor in this one. The use of Stormzy's music to get the spiders away was just an attempt to come across as being cool and hip. As someone who loves watching Doctor Who and enjoys listening to grime music, I can tell you they just don't mix, it's not compatible in tone in my opinion and feels a bit cringey.

I found some of the supporting characters dull in this one but maybe it was just the plot that was stopping me from engaging properly. Jade McIntyre was the standout, but even she wasn't really groundbreaking, and she felt like a pretty watered-down version of the 'could-be-a-companion' archetype. Robertson I covered in the previous point, I didn't admire the performance nor the sentiment behind the character. Najia and the rest of Yaz's family are likable and I wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of them in future episodes. Walsh played his scenes very well with Clarke, as did she. I love the playful, sobering love between Graham and Grace. I felt like Ryan was a bit useless during the episode, as was Graham apart from the aforementioned scenes. The highlight is fully between the Doctor and Yaz, which is genuinely good and an enjoyable part of the episode.

Taking it back to the modern-day and include Yaz's family was a great choice for this part of the series, I just wish the episode covering it was better. The scenes with the spiders in the narrow hallways are suspenseful and handled well, with the Doctor shining in dealing with the one she first comes across.

Overall, Arachnids in the UK handled some good character-development moments for the Doctor, Graham, and Yaz. It was set exactly where and when it needed to be but the storyline along with some supporting characters was dull which detracted largely from the viewing experience. The fact that this came from Chibnall is quite worrying, I don't feel like Moffat ever wrote stinkers like this, which I suppose sounds catty. I definitely won't be in a rush to watch this one again.

4/10

11.5 - The Tsuranga Conundrum // Review

Spoiler

Director: Jennifer Perrott
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Brett Goldstein
Lois Chimimba
Suzanne Packer

The Tsuranga Conundrum sees the Doctor and co on board the Tsuranga medical ship dealing with the Pting, a creature impervious to any damage that eats through all non-organic material and has toxic-to-the-touch skin.

Tsuranga wasn't that bad when I first watched it but watching it this time around I found it quite boring and it petered off in the first fifteen minutes, unfortunately. The sonic mine goes off in the junkyard, sending the Doctor, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan to a Tsuranga hospital ship. Essentially the space red cross, which is a really cool concept. There's a power struggle between the Doctor and Astos, with the Doctor realizing that she's endangering the other patients by meddling with the ship. The Pting then enters, jettisoning Astos in an escape pod that explodes, killing him. The Doctor, her companions, and the crew discovers that the ship will be detonated due to the space station detecting the Pting and the threat it imposes on the patients at Resus One. While the Doctor and Cicero work to prevent the ship from being able to self-destruct, Yaz and Ronan (an AI) defend the power source and Ryan and Graham help Yoss to deliver his baby. The way the Doctor deals with the Pting, having it eat the self-destruct source and absorb the energy before jettisoning it was a satisfactory conclusion, but ultimately I just found it a bit of a bore and it didn't really grip me the way I think it could have.

The characters were more likable, especially Astos. I was a bit disappointed that he died so early, but at the same time, it meant that he stuck out as a better character as a result. Cicero and Durkas were enjoyable characters, I liked the difference in careers between them and the dynamics between them, especially with Cicero hiding the fact she had pilot heart from him. The Pting was interesting in concept and looked cute, very similar to the Adipose, however. Graham and Ryan were used purely for a comedic side-line which I didn't like the idea of, but I did enjoy seeing Ryan open up more to Yaz about his history with his dad after Yoss revealed he was planning to give his child up as he's not ready to be a father. Apart from that though, all companions had quite a limited role, I felt in comparison to previous episodes but it did give the Doctor more time. The problem is, she couldn't stop the sonic mine, she was acting irrationally and got put into place by Astos, she just wasn't really doing much good. I like that this Doctor is a bit more vulnerable and isn't this perfect genius who can take anything on, but with her feeling like a caricature of previous Doctors at different times, I feel like halfway through the series her actual unique personality should have shined through a bit more by now.

The ship itself did look quite sleek and futuristic, I appreciated the set designs. The narrow hallways juxtaposed with such a dangerous villain was a good source of suspense.

Overall, The Tsuranga Conundrum isn't as bad as people make it out to be, but it certainly isn't great. It just feels like it's missing something, and it's glaringly obvious it's sidelining two of the main cast just for comedy, which I think was bound to happen but still disappointed me.

6/10

11.6 - Demons in the Punjab // Review

Spoiler

Director: Jamie Childs
Writer: Vinay Patel
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Shane Zaza
Leena Dhingra
Amita Suman
Hamza Jeetooa

Demons of the Punjab sees the Doctor, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan traveling to India in 1947 during the Partition, where they bear witness to Yaz's grandmother, Umbreen's first wedding and meet the Assassins of Thijar.

This episode was stellar for me, both when I first watched it and this third run-through. The historical setting, covering the Partition in India was a great idea for an episode and Patel served it justice. We go back in time after Yaz wants to find out the origins behind a broken watch her grandmother gifts to her. There, the TARDIS team finds Umbreen as a young woman, with Yaz surprised to discover she's about to get married to a Hindu man named Prem, despite having Muslim roots. This is handled extremely well and becomes the backdrop of the entire episode, with a union of love being defies against in secret by Manish, Prem's brother.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has visions of the Thijarian Assassins through flashes in her mind, and eventually, they are introduced watching over Bhakti, the marriage's priest. The Thijarian Assassins are revealed to no longer be hunting, but following their planet being destroyed and their people dying alone and unmourned, they go around the universe ensuring nobody dies alone. I know a problem with this series is having a lack of threatening villains, but judging on an individual episode basis I was happy to have the Thijarians turn out to be this rather than the villains. It allowed the real plot about the Partition shining through with lots of emphasis on Manish's act of betrayal to Prem, having him killed at the end of the episode. I love the focus on one family and the breaking up of it that the Partition caused, as well as the added emotional weight of it being Yaz's grandmother that went through losing her husband on the day of the wedding. I think Vinay Patel nailed it and I really hope he returns to write future episodes. Manish is revealed as having killed the Priest at the beginning of the episode, as he calls the Hindu nationalists and has them murder Prem, while Umbreen, the TARDIS team and Hasna are forced to leave in order to survive.

The characters are all brilliant in this, with the performances being great too. I felt that the performance from Shane Zaza was odd, I loved the character itself but the performance felt, perhaps wooden? Forced? I'm not so sure, but every time I've watched it I've felt like I can't make up my mind about Zaza's performance. The TARDIS team are all on fine form - we see the Doctor perform a wedding ceremony, Yaz and Graham reflect on their adventures with the Doctor and how great their life is at the moment because of it, Ryan's there.

That is one problem the episode had but didn't actually end up feeling like it detracted from the episode, Ryan doesn't seem to be very needed. He questions things, he's supporting Yaz and sharing the journey with them all but he's not really making much of an impact. Tosin Cole does well with what he's given though. Both the younger and older versions of Umbreen are really likable, with the connection between her and Yaz being a well-delivered performance. Manish is a tragic character, changed from the war and completely lost in his religious and political views. So far gone he kills his own brother. The TARDIS team having to just walk away, unable to do anything was heartbreaking to me.

I really like the Thijarian Assassins and I was glad that they ended up being what they were rather than the villains of the episode, it allowed more focus on Manish and the effects of the Partition on families.

The settings and music is beautiful in this episode, really well done and with the upgraded cameras the visuals really get to shine through in the same way The Ghost Monument did.

Overall Demons of the Punjab is a fantastic episode that delivered perfectly, managing to balance introducing a brand-new, interesting alien race with the Partition as well as a younger version of Yaz's grandmother and the risks of a paradox being present. It's certainly my favorite episode of this series and I'd love to see stories set in a similar time to this again, as well as a return of the Thijarian Assassins, perhaps when they were assassins, to flip the concept completely on its head.

10/10

11.7 - Kerblam! // Review

Spoiler

Director: Jennifer Perrotti
Writer: Pete McTighe
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Lee Mack
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Callum Dixon
Claudia Jessie
Leo Flanagan

Kerblam! sees the Doctor and co investigate a Kerblam! warehouse and discover a plot to mass murder the customer base.

Kerblam! is a really fun episode. I enjoyed it when S11 first aired and I enjoyed it on this rewatch. The Doctor receives a delivery from a Kerblam! delivery bot, essentially a space postman. The delivery is a fez, which is an unexpected and genius callback to the Matt Smith days, but then the Doctor examines the packing slip and sees 'Help me' printed on the back of it.

Posing as new workers, the Doctor and co meet Dan (Lee Mack), Judy Maddox (Julie Hesmondhalgh), Jarva Slade (Callum Dixon), Kira (Claudia Jessie), Charlie (Leo Flanagan) and the 'TeamMates', which are delivery bots. Yaz and Dan bond quickly, with the latter demanding that he heads to a certain area to find an item as people have disappeared there before and he doesn't want that for Yaz. The threat of the workers have been disappearing and the delivery bots being involved is quickly introduced into the episode, but it maintains a fun, rompy pace throughout. Dan is killed by the bots, and the Doctor and Slade get off on the wrong foot, with it turning out they were both believing it was the other behind the disappearances. At first Charlie and Kira, both very likable characters have a romantic connection, but things turn sour once it is revealed that the bubble wrap kills people, killing Kira which Charlie did not intend to happen. He is revealed as being desperate to create fear in automation so that more people can have jobs, as only 10 % of citizens on his homeworld have jobs due to robots replacing them. The Doctor tries to reason with him but it's no use, he activates a mass delivery of the bubblewrap. Reacting quickly, the Doctor manages to use Twirly, a very early version of the TeamMate robots, to override the controls and get the TeamMates to open the package themselves and pop the bubblewrap, blowing up the entire Kerblam! factory. Charlie, unwilling to join with them, dies in the confusion.

I actually really like the plot of Kerblam! as well as it's characters. It's classic Doctor Who, with the TeamMate robots being creepy and have a great concept. They're not even the villain, they're trying to prevent Charlie from doing what he's doing, and are revealed as the ones who sent the message for help to the Doctor. But they serve well as 'villains' for the first three-quarters of the episode and the concept behind them is really cool. The supporting characters are all fantastic, with Mack - "What you doing? Practicing your lurking?" and Hesmondhalgh - "He was a bit weird, my dad." shining through. Flanagan and Jessie have chemistry at the start and both play their roles well. Dixon does well with Slade's snarly, villain-esque scenes but plays him well when it is revealed at the end that he wasn't the villain, which the Doctor had initially thought. The TARDIS team is all on fine form, in particular, the Doctor and Graham, with the latter having some hilarious one-liners "They want to kill their customers? That's the worst business plan I've ever heard!" and the former having a beautiful speech about humans and robots. I think the concept of killer bubble wrap is something that only works in Doctor Who but was great nonetheless.

The setting was sometimes a little bit too dim and nothing really too impressive. Mainly the maintenance room scenes just felt a bit cramped. But the warehouse scenes provided a fresh backdrop for danger in the show and they used it well.

Overall Kerblam! is a really great episode that had elements that could have been improved but had no noticeable faults. I'd love to see more episodes like this in Whittaker's era and I'd happily have the writer Pete McTighe return.

9/10

11.8 - The Witchfinders // Review

Spoiler

Director: Sallie Aprahamian
Writer: Joy Wilkinson
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Alan Cumming
Siobhan Finneran

In The Witchfinders, the TARDIS team meets King James during a Witch trial, and deal with the threat of the Morax.

The third historical of the series, this time it's an episode set in Lancashire during witch trials and King James' reign. The Doctor, using the psychic paper, establishes her and her companions as the Witchfinder squad to Becka Savage in order to prevent the killings. When King James arrives, matters complicate as he assumes Graham is the 'Witchfinder General' and the Doctor is his assistant.

The corpses from the witch trials begin reanimating, so the companions follow them while the Doctor tries to investigate Becka and discover what she's hiding. King James misunderstands and believes the Doctor is a witch, so has her drowned. She manages to escape, however, and discovers that Becka was poisoned by an alien entity, the Morax, which had been living in Pendle Hill, a prison for aliens.

The Morax intend to take over King James and kill everyone on planet Earth, so the Doctor reactivates the prison, saving the King and drawing the Morax back into the prison.

The plot is pretty simple, to be honest, and by the end, it falls quite flat. The Morax is introduced only 8 minutes until the end of the episode and defeated pretty much in the next scene - this gives them no emphasis and for a series already have been suffering from a lack of threat, this only adds to the problem and wastes the opportunity. I enjoyed the episode thanks to the characters and certain moments such as the Doctor almost being drowned, the moment the Morax is revealed, but ultimately this script was very weak and needed much better pacing. I also didn't enjoy Pendle Hill being revealed as an alien prison, it wasn't imaginative at all and detracted from my enjoyment of the episode.

The characters are the highlight of the episode. Becka Savage (Siobhan Finneran) and King James (Alan Cumming) are great supporting characters, with Cumming outperforming everyone as I'm sure a majority of the audience expected. King James immediately takes a liking to Ryan, giving some funny moments throughout the episode. The Morax are interesting but criminally underused. I wouldn't say they deserve a return, but they were great monster-of-the-week villains that should have been given more.

The setting was mostly good but didn't really focus much on Lancashire and the living conditions etc, there wasn't too much of a focus on the historical aspect of the episode like there was with Rosa and Demons of the Punjab.

Overall, The Witchfinders started off as a great episode and I really enjoyed the characters as well as their performance, but I think the latter half ruined the episode and I'm surprised it passed the script editor the way it did.

4/10

11.9 - It Takes You Away // Review

Spoiler

Director: Jamie Childs
Writer: Ed Hime
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Ellie Wallwork
Sharon D. Clarke
Kevin Eldon
Christian Rubeck
Lisa Stokke

It Takes You Away features the Solitract, a conscious universe that cannot exist with the universe but wants to against all else, and a little Norweigan girl all alone on a fjord who's missing her father.

This episode is one of my favourites of the series for sure. Not only is it an undeniably unique modern-day story in the vast collection of them, but it also features stunning visuals on the same level as The Ghost Monument and Demons of the Punjab, while introducing an interesting new alien creature and giving the TARDIS team chance to shine. The team arrives in a Norwegian fjord where they discover a house with no smoke. There they find Hanne, a young girl who's waiting for her father Erik to return. The Doctor and co look into it, with Ryan looking after Hanne while the others go through the anti zone and into the mirror universe, discovering Erik. On the way through the anti zone, they are assisted by an alien trapped there known as Ribbons, who eventually betrays them and tries to have the flesh-eating moths that reside in the zone kill them. Ribbons was a nice side character but I felt like he was forgotten about a bit too easily. The flesh-eating moths weren't a bad villain either, only in Doctor Who!

In the mirror universe, the Doctor realizes it's the Solitract, which she used to hear about from her granny during bedtime stories as a child. The Solitract is a universe that cannot exist in the actual universe but wants to. It takes the form of Trine, Erik's deceased wife, as well as the form of Grace in order to try and lure Graham. Both Erik and Graham are convinced they have been reunited with their loved ones, and when the Doctor and Yaz try to convince them of this, the latter is forced out of the universe by the Solitract. Eventually, Graham realizes that 'Grace' is not actually Grace as she is unmoved by the prospect of Ryan being in danger in the anti-zone, so is pushed out also. Eventually, Erik is also pushed out leaving just the Doctor and the Solitract remaining. The Doctor convinces the Solitract that they are friends and manages to be allowed to leave, returning to her old universe. Erik agrees to get help and look after Hanne better in the future and the TARDIS team moves on, with the Doctor deeply moved by the events of the episode.

The TARDIS team is really given a chance to shine here and the supporting characters are all stellar. Ryan bonds with Hanne after initially getting off on the wrong foot, making it two episodes in a row that Ryan has had a connection with one of the guest characters, which seems to be a useful trait of his to the overall team. Graham and 'Grace' have some really emotional scenes, Walsh and Clarke as always on fine form together. Whittaker gives her best performance as the Doctor yet, finally being given enough material to work with. Yaz is sort of sidelined a little bit but does well with what she's given. The Solitract, again not an actual villain, is an interesting one-off character and I enjoyed the writing around it. Ribbons could have been given a larger role in the episode but it wasn't the main point of the story so I can let that go. Hanne is played brilliantly by Wallwork.

The fjord scenes are really stunning, very much in tone with a lot of the other exterior-heavy episodes. The anti-zone scenes are obviously meant to be dark and dingy but I feel they could have been given something that added a bit of zest to them.

Overall, It Takes You Away is a fantastic episode that did well to develop the TARDIS team, had great supporting characters and though lacking in threat or an action-pace was great to watch and dealt with some tragic story elements. I'd love to see Ed Hime return to write in the future.

8/10

11.10 - The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos // Review

Spoiler

Director: Jamie Childs
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Phyllis Logan
Mark Addy
Percelle Ascot
Samuel Oatley
Jan Le

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos features the return of Tzim-Sha from the opening episode The Woman Who Fell to Earth and his plot involving the duo-species the Ux.

The Doctor and her companions answer a mass number of distress signals from Ranskoor Av Kolos, where they discover Tzim-Sha survived the events of The Woman Who Fell to Earth. They come across Paltraki, who is ordered to return a package by Tzim-Sha. Paltraki is amnesiac, so the Doctor gives him a neural balancer which helps him regain his memories throughout the episode. They then come across Andinio, a member of the duo-species the Ux. Graham warns the Doctor she will kill Tzim-Sha if he's back, and the Doctor warns him he'll no longer be allowed to travel with them if he murders Tzim-Sha.

Ryan and Graham search for the missing crew members of Paltraki, taking on Sniper Bots while they do so and finding them in vats frozen. Yaz helps Paltraki remember his mission, which turns out to be investigating devastated planets and the battles that happened on Ranskoor av Kolos. Meanwhile, the Doctor is led by Andinio to see Tzim-Sha, who reveals he has waited for over 3400 years to gain revenge on the Doctor and is planning to use the Ux to shrink the Earth.

Having Tzim-Sha return in the finale was a great idea and he was by far the best villain of Series 11. I felt like it was a bit stupid that he allowed Graham and Ryan to lock him away after being shot in the foot, despite having it proven to him that neither of them would kill him if he resisted. Meanwhile, the Doctor and the Ux use the TARDIS as well as Tzim-Sha's ship to put the missing five planets that Paltraki and his crew were searching for back into place. It was quite easy how the Ux restored the planets but it made sense based on the information we had about the duo-species throughout the episode and their powers.

The TARDIS team was strong throughout, and the Ux, as well as Paltraki, were well-written characters. Tzim-Sha wasn't quite as threatening as he was in The Woman Who Fell to Earth but being built up this time around I did enjoy his presence in the episode, I just felt like Chibnall didn't really give him enough to do. Graham coming extremely close to killing Tzim-Sha but then deciding not to was enjoyable scenes to watch and I'm glad he didn't give in to the anger he has for the warrior.

Overall, The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos had a good concept and wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it being. It definitely is Chibnall's strongest but it, unfortunately, didn't match up to previous series finales nor certain episodes in Series 11. I was glad Tzim-Sha returned and the threat level was undeniably higher but the magic fix detracted from the impact of that.

7/10

11.X - Resolution // Review

Spoiler

Director: Wayne Yip
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Cast:

Jodie Whittaker
Mandip Gill
Bradley Walsh
Tosin Cole
Charlotte Ritchie
Nikesh Patel
Nick Briggs

Resolution deals with the TARDIS team taking on a Dalek that is rebuilding itself a new casing after being defeated in the 9th century by human warriors.

It's a bit unrealistic to me that human warriors from years ago managed to defeat a fully-powered Dalek, it doesn't really make sense based on what we know about the Daleks from the countless previous episodes they've been in. Having said that, Resolution moves at a great pace and is by far Chibnall's best script for the show so far.

The Doctor and co discover there's an alien presence after meeting two archaeologists, Lin (Charlotte Ritchie) and Mitch (Nikesh Patel) who are investigating the sewers. The Doctor takes some of the alien mucus, left behind on the sewer wall, to examine in the TARDIS, quickly discovering it's a Dalek. The Dalek squid possesses Lin unbeknownst to everyone else.

I like that no time was wasted in introducing that there's a Dalek on the loose and that Thirteen is finally coming against one. Aaron (Daniel Adegboyega), Ryan's father is introduced and goes to a nearby cafe with Ryan, asking him for another chance and apologizing for running out on him.

The Doctor speaks to the Dalek through the TARDIS and manages to speak to Lin as well, telling her to keep fighting and that they are coming for her. Lin, controlled by the Dalek, heads to the MDZ archive base, where extra-terrestrial technology has been bought. She kills the people there and attaches a Dalek gun to her arm. Working on the casing, the Dalek creature manages to manufacture a makeshift, junkyard Dalek casing to reside in. It required a suspension of disbelief to swallow that Lin managed to create an entire Dalek casing from a scrapyard but I can believe it for the sake of the episode.

When the Dalek is finally revealed and has a small confrontation with the Doctor, it's handled well and gives Whittaker a chance to shine. One thing Resolution nails - the Doctor's part in it. The Dalek is surprisingly given enough to do as well, killing many soldiers, taking on a tank, Chibnall actually pulls through with a menacing villain for once and shows what this era is actually capable of when the focus is on the threat.

Graham and Aaron spend a good deal of the episode chatting, and Ryan and Yaz spend a lot of it fetching people the Doctor needs. The companions definitely take a bit of a backseat in favour of the Doctor vs the Dalek, but that wasn't so much of a problem since after Series 11 I needed to see an episode with a genuine, enjoyable to watch threat.

With the Dalek killing everything and everyone in its path, it heads to GCHQ to try and summon the Dalek fleet. The Doctor, her companions, Aaron and the two archaeologists arrive and manage to destroy the Dalek casing with the microwave oven Aaron is trying to sell. The creature demands that the Doctor takes her to Skaro, which she agrees to do but in reality takes it to a supernova to deal with it.

Ryan offers Aaron aboard the TARDIS, but he declines. The group leave Aaron and the archaeologists and continue with their travels.

The characters do take a bit of a backseat in this episode as mentioned before but they do well with what they're given. The Doctor, Graham and Ryan shine with Yaz having little involvement. Lin is played well by Ritchie and the Dalek is written well, laughing at the Doctor in the TARDIS, mercilessly killing dozens of soldiers.

The modern-day setting was done well, with the Dalek being on the loose having serious implications for people everywhere. Getting to see the Dalek fighting the soldiers and the tank was the highlight of the episode.

Overall, Resolution doesn't perfectly balance all elements of a good episode and I found myself having to suspend disbelief quite a lot, but it did really well with the Dalek, is Chibnall's best script yet and will go down as a highlight in Whittaker's era. As a final book-end on Series 11 it serves the role perfectly.

8/10

 

Half of me thinks they're going to tie in with the Timeless Child series arc, the other half thinks they're leaving it as a "maybe ghosts do exist" nod to the audience.

 

Only two episodes to go - tonight's is 9 of 10.

 

Oh? I must have had it in my head that this was a longer series.

 

I think they are normally around this length but past series have had Christmas specials as well. I'm going by the BBC information on the Sky Guide for the episode numbers - tonight's synopsis says 9/10.

Edit - just went ahead to next Sunday on the guide. Episode is 20 minutes longer - UK start time is 650 PM, not 710.

 

I'm not doubting your info, I think it's been 12-13 previously?

In any case, hope we don't have to wait until 2021 for the next series.

 

Last series was 10 episodes. 13 in previous series.

 

If you go by Wikipedia, the new Doctor Who series have been 13 up til series 8. Series 8-10 was 12 episodes and 11-12 are 10.

 

Not really sure about that ep, it could all collapse rather badly next week.

 

Under Chris Chibnall, the dialogue on this show has gotten so bad—like Star Wars prequel level bad. I pretty much cringed throughout this whole episode. (The Brandon side story was neat though.)