Looking back at 2013

It's certainly been a busy year with ups and downs. Nelson Mandela passed away, sadly. Andy Murray won Wimbledon and Prince George was born and eventually named.

For me personally it's been a bit up and down. Not bad but not brilliant. I hope, as always, that the new year will provide an opportunity to improve matters.

Doctor Who's 50th anniversary year has certainly been busy. Back in January Matt Smith was sitll the Doctor, fans were complaining that there was nothing interesting for the 50th anniversary. But we got a 3D Episode, a biopic, tie in programs and even a regeneration story for Paul McGann! Better still, could any of us imagine, back in January, that by the end of the year we would be able to watch the complete story The Enemy of the World or the almost complete The Web of Fear? It was a good time to be a Doctor Who fan

Here are five of my favourite things from 2013.

Favourite Public Event: Andy Murray wins Wimbledon
I must admit, I have been one of Andy Murray's doubters for some years. I never really thought he could win Wimbledon, so I was pleasantly surprised when he succeeded. It was nice to have a British Champion, so well done Andy!

Favourite TV Show: Orphan Black 
If you haven't seen this TV show (and you really should do because it's brilliant), stop reading and go watch it now because there'll be spoilers below.

This has been my favourite TV Show of the year. Tatiana Maslanay proved to be perfect at portraying Sarah Manning and her various clones. Series 2 will be coming in 2014 and I can't wait to find out what happened to Sarah's daughter.

Favourite Podcast: "Verity" 
The best Doctor Who podcast out there which started at the beginning of this year. Six smart women discuss Doctor Who. Their analysis of episodes are effortlessly better than my own. So, my thanks goes to Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, Liz Myles, Lynne M Thomas, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Katrina Griffiths for making such a brilliant podcast.

Favourite Exhibition: "Alien Invasion" at The Lightbox Museum and Art Gallery
The Lightbox Museum and Art Gallery in Woking has had many good exhibitions this year, from the Gertrude Jeckyll gardening exhibition, to World Wildlife fund art. This exhibition is great for family with sections on HG Wells and the rest of the museum. It's open until 19th January, so if you haven't seen it already, go and see it now.

Favourite Game: Gone Home (PC)
A game with no enemies or supporting characters, just you, the protagonist, exploring an empty house. It's very much like Myst mixed with the original Resident Evil. The story is a little basic, but it's a good step forward for game developers to look in different directions.

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor

The story of The Time of the Doctor wasn't really suited to being a Christmas Special. It had to bring an end to Matt Smith's Doctor and tie up plot threads from as far back as 2010. As a result, the episode is packed full to the brim with incident and exposition that might have been a bit baffling to a casual audience who were too full up on up on turkey and wine and wouldn't necessarily remember every plot point from previous season. A lot of the Christmas related story threads, such as the Christmas themed town and Clara trying to cook Christmas dinner for her family, felt tacked on. The time spent joking around with Clara's family might have been better spent establishing the main plot.

At its heart, The Time of the Doctor is a very simple story of the Doctor growing old while attempting to protect a backwater town from alien attack. But to get to this point there is a lot of setting up to do, such as reintroducing Gallifrey and the Trenzalore prophecy from Series Six. The story was further complicated by the idea that the Doctor had reached his thirteenth life. A plot point necessitated by the introduction of the War Doctor back in The Day of the Doctor. All of these additions mean that the plot is shifting from location to location. From Earth to the Papal Mainframe, to Trenzalore, and back and forth. This gives the audience little time to take in what is going on, before the story moves to the next set up.

In fairness, Steven Moffat does answer the majority of outstanding questions from the Matt Smith years. We now know who it was that blew up the Tardis in The Pandorica Opens, why the Doctor had to speak his name at Trenzalore and why the Silents wanted to prevent this. While some elements have obviously been altered over the years, Steven has done a good job of tying things together for the end and he can now move on to give Peter Capaldi's Doctor a relatively fresh start.

While the story had its ups and downs, other elements f the production were pretty good. The design work by Michael Pickwoad was excellant. Christmas Town looked like every other fantasy Christmas town ever. The Church of the Papal Mainframe looked suitably vast and moody in black with glowing blues and reds.

By now, Matt Smith has complete confidence in the role of the Eleventh Doctor. This episode shows off every facet of his character from the goofiness when he is naked, to the trickster and the warrior who defends Trenzalore from his old enemies. Seeing the older Doctor at the end of his life was very interesting. It also means that Peter Capaldi’s Doctor will seem younger in comparison. I wonder if the crutch was for his injury that he had before filming?

Jenna Louise Coleman continues to do her best with a thinly defined character. Clara apparently now fancies the Doctor which is disappointingly familiar to other companions. Still, it will be interesting to see how this affects her reaction to the new, older, Doctor. It was nice to see more of Clara’s family life. Her dad is now completely different from the one we saw in the Rings of Akhaten. The Gran was the best character. The other woman is unexplained, but I guess it was supposed to be Dad’s new girlfriend, since she was listed in the credits as “Linda” and not “Mum”.

The Papal Mainframe was an interesting idea, building up from the religious elements introduced in The Time of Angels and A Good Man Goes to War. However, it did veer into the hardcore science fiction that Russell T Davies strove to avoid. I didn’t really like the character of Tasha Lem , partly because I dislike old friends of the Doctor that we have never met before and partly because she felt way too similar to River Song in that she is a psychopath who fancies the Doctor. Either Alex Kingston was unavailable or Moffat fell back on an old character archetype. At least Orla Brady proved herself to be good in the role. It was good to see the Silents back again after it seemed like they'd been forgotten in Series 7. They are continuing with their tradition of having a different background per episode. First they were a race that had manipulated humanity. Then they became the establishers of history, now they are demoted to being confessors for the Papal Mainframe.

The alliance of aliens attempting to destroy Trenzalore was a bit of a repeat of the alliance in The Pandorica Opens but had a few, more interesting differences. The Daleks and Cybermen were generic threats with no discernable differences. I did, however, like the idea Wooden Cyberman that was used to infiltrate Christmas Town. I also liked the comedy Sontarans with their invisibility field. I would query the inclusion of Terileptils in the list of aliens though. It seems that in Steven Moffat’s vision of Doctor Who, every alien race knows about the Doctor.

As for the regeneration itself, Moffat has his cake and eats it by having the volcanic regeneration as the way to defeat the Daleks and a more low key regeneration. Amy’s cameo was nice, although I wish Rory could have been there. I liked the fact that the actual regeneration was swift. It meant the audience was just as disoriented as Clara was. It’s impossible at this stage to give my opinion on Peter Capaldi yet, because he is acting insane through post regeneration trauma, but he looked suitably insane.

All in all, The Time of the Doctor was not a bad story, but not a very emotionally engaging one. It does, at least, give Steven Moffat an advantage in that he can jettison all of the previous story threads and give Peter Capaldi's Doctor a fresh start. Matt Smith has been a very successful Doctor. While I am not sure this was the best story for him to go out on, he has been great in other stories. Steven Moffat has made good decisions and some not so good, but hiring Matt Smith was definitely a good decision. Goodbye Mr Smith. You were brilliant.

My Favourite moments of Matt Smith's Doctor

In three days time, we will be saying goodbye to the Eleventh Doctor, so I've decided to post some of my favourite moments of Matt Smith in his time in the part. Others would no doubt have chosen differently, but this my blog, so it's my choices.

1.  Confronting Rosana Calvieri (Vampires of Venice)
When Matt Smith was first announced as the new Doctor, a lot of people thought that he would be too young to show power and authority. This scene proves those people wrong. He begins the scene sitting on a throne, relaxed and confident. He circles the evil Rosanna, flirting and warning her at the same time. Finally he brushes away her manservant and strides out of the room. A good demonstration that this is not a Time Lord to mess with.

2. Saying goodbye to Amelia before the crack swallows him up (The Big Bang)
The Eleventh Doctor is often described as "wacky" or "zany", but here we see his more melancholy side as he sits by Amelia's bedside and tells her the story of how he left Gallifrey before he enters the crack in time, we viewers can finally see the old man beneath the veneer. Matt makes this a sad moment, one which might rival his regeneration scene.

3. Getting the boy to stop the Bomb (The Boy Who Saved the Proms)
Technically this isn't part of the TV Show but I don't care because it's brilliant. Matt Smith proves that he is great at acting with children away from the controlled studio environment and in a hall full of people and with a child whose responses can't be predicted.  As Matt and the boy disarm a bomb with invisible wires, we can see that like Tom Baker before him, Matt can deal with the unpredictable.

4. The Doctor confronts Oswin (Asylum of the Daleks)
The Doctor/Oswin conversations throughout the episode are pretty good, given that the actors were performing separately. I love the look on Matt Smith's face as he enters Oswin's room and realizes that she is a Dalek before she herself does. The eyes say it all. I also like the fact that the Doctor gets carried away with tearing down Oswin's illusions without realizing the danger he is putting himself in when she starts to revert to Dalek behaviour.

5. The Future Doctor prepares for his own death (The Impossible Astronaut)
Once you've seen the future Doctor being killed by the astronaut, it's interesting to look back at the subtle differences between Matt's performance as future Doctor and the present one. The future Doctor has the same tics, but is warier and more confident. The way he says he "never got done saving you" is the dead giveaway. The younger one is more excitable. It's a good example of the range of Matt Smith's performance.

6. Confronting his friends on their secrecy (The Impossible Astronaut)
A good example of how the Doctor can switch from a comedic goon to a serious Lord of Time as the Doctor reveals to his companions that he knows they are hiding something from him. It is at this moment that he reveals his nastier side as he tells River that he does not trust her.

7. Eating Fish Fingers and Custard with Amelia (The Eleventh Hour)
When we first see the Eleventh Doctor after his regeneration, he is completely crazy. The Doctor's one to one talk with young Amelia in her kitchen is the moment that the Doctor finally settles down. We knew he could be funny, but now we see him being observant. It is also the first time we see him acting with children. It's something that Matt has always been good at.

8. Imploring Amy to release him to save the world (The Eleventh Hour)
The Doctor is forced to implore Amy to free him to save the world. For the first time since she was a child, the Doctor talks seriously to Amy Pond.

9. Closing the door to Older Amy (The Girl Who Waited) 
The Doctor shows his darker side as he shuts the Tardis door on the older Amy. While Steven Moffat's version of Doctor Who is generally optimistic, this is a rare example of the Doctor making a harsh decision.

10. "Legs! I've still got legs!" (The End of Time Part 2)
After the downbeat death of the Tenth Doctor, the mood completely changes for the upbeat birth of the Eleventh. Not every Doctor gets the benefit of having a first line. Tom Baker got no line at all. David's first lines gave no indication of whether I would like him or not. Matt is very good at acting naturally crazy. From this moment on, I knew I would like him.

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

In short: I didn't like everything that this special did. But I liked the way they did it.

Before now, every fan had their ideal version of the 50th anniversary special in their head, so Steven Moffat could never have satisfied everyone. He appears to have gone for a version based on The Three Doctors. In that story, three Doctors are brought together to solve a common problem involving Time Lord history, and there was an end to the story arc of the past years. In this tale, three Doctors are drawn together from different timeas a by the Moment, a weapon from Time Lord history. These are the Eleventh, Tenth and the War Doctor played by John Hurt. After solving the problem of a Zygon invasion of Earth they unite with their other selves to save Gallifrey. 

I have to admit, I don't like the idea of the Doctor undoing the destruction of Gallifrey. It feels like a cop out. I wouldn't have minded if a colony of Time Lords had survived and hidden away without the Doctor knowing about it, but the idea that the Doctor’s difficult decisions can be erased through a bit of time travel is weak. There are loads of other planets and civilisations that suffered during the time war, why didn't the Doctor save them as well?Although Steven Moffat has said that he tried to make sure that his work did not undo the Russell T Davies stories, it still undermines them when you know that all the Doctor's talk about killing his people is not true. The drama of the Doctor destroying Pompeii to save the world in Fires of Pompeii is diminished . His actions in the past eight years of the new series have been influenced by an event which now never happened.

There are still good things about this story though. The three main Doctors are fun to watch. Matt Smith is at the top of his game as the Eleventh Doctor, continuing to excel in the role of an old man in a body of a young one. For all the excitement over Peter Capaldi, who also makes a teasing cameo appearance here, this story serves as a good reminder of how lucky we fans are to have had Matt Smith as the lead in the show for four years. He will be sorely missed when he goes. David Tennant has not changed a bit in the role of the Tenth Doctor. It's like he's been preserved since The End of Time and they got him out of the cupboard. We see his more romantic side and his arrogance and coolness. I particularly liked his outrage when he realised that the Eleven had forgotten the number of children who died on Gallifrey. John Hurt does a good job as the new incarnation, the War Doctor. He gives a Doctorish twinkle and getting to say all the things that the old school fans like to complain about, like the "wavy hands" and phrases like "timey wimey". While its easy to see how this role could have worked for Eccleston, Hurt brings an old man's weariness to the part which the Ninth Doctor could not have done.

Thanks to Jenna Louise Coleman, Clara still comes across as a likable companion, even if she is not a particularly well developed one. Since we last saw her, she has moved on from being a nanny to being a teacher at Coal Hill School. While it makes sense that she is still in a role involving children, it seems like a bit of a jolt to find out that time has passed. Like many companions before her, she acts as the conscience for the Three Doctors, which is as it should be. She is also completely comfortable with the Eleventh Doctor. It is understandable that she is not dominating this story. Viewers will have to wait until Series 8 to see if the Clara is going to develop.

Billie Piper was also good at playing the Moment, in the form of Rose Tyler. The idea of a weapon gaining its own sentience was interesting and character has elements of Idris in it, a complex event compressed into a human body. Steven Moffat may have diminished the end of the Time War, but he was wise not ruin Rose Tyler's character arc. The Tenth Doctor and Rose have had enough re-introductions and goodbyes already.

The other characters were less developed. It was great to see Jemma Redgrave back as Kate Stewart. The fangirl scientific advisor, Osgood, was also a nice touch. She was like a female version of Malcolm from Planet of the Dead. The weakest link was Queen Elizabeth I, who came across as too much of a caricature.

The redesign of the Zygons was a success, and their transformation is definite improvement on the one used in Terror of the Zygons. While the Zygon plan to invade Earth by hiding in paintings could could seem like a minor event in an anniversary special, it dovetailed nicely with the main one. Humans having to deal with their Zygon copies reflects the Doctor having to deal with other versions of himself. The Doctors plan to make the humans and Zygons form a peace treaty is inspired and shows their determination to find a third option, as they will when they bring Gallifrey back. Even the stasis cubes used to freeze the Zygons are deployed later as a means to freeze Gallifrey. 

As an anniversary story, this managed to include plenty of Easter eggs, large and small, that referenced the past fifty years, from Coal Hill School to the Space/Time Telegraph. Seeing all of the Doctors in their Tardises, uniting to save Gallifrey was a nice touch, even if I didn't like what they were trying to accomplish. 
I only wish William Russell could have made a cameo as Ian Chesterton. This includes Tom Baker's scarf, and finally Tom Baker himself.

Tom Baker may have failed to appear in the 20th anniversary special but at least he is here for the 50th. The Curator is clearly meant to be a future Doctor. It was a great surprise for those of us, like myself, who were fortunate enough to successfully avoid the spoilers about his appearance.

All in all, this is a mixed bag. It has more plot than The Five Doctors but The Three Doctors did not undo its exile.

An Adventure in Space and Time

While the origins of Doctor Who have been well researched and documented, it was not clear how the story would be dramatised. There were a large number of people involved in creating the program, so it would be impossible to list them all. Would the program focus on the creators or the actors? Mark Gatiss'' story focuses on two major individuals. One of them is Verity Lambert, the new female producer who has to prove herself by making a show that nobody at the BBC liked. The other is William Hartnell, the lead actor, who has gone from playing tough guy parts to playing in childrens television. Both of these characters are stepping into an unknown world.

I was unsure how good Jessica Raine would be at playing Verity Lambert, so I was happy to see that she was successful at it. Raine successfully shows the "piss and vinegar" in Verity that Sydney Newman spoke about, while showing her warmer side when talking with Waris Hussein. The development from a stiff, uncertain new producer into a confident controller of people is well presented.

David Bradley is good as William Hartnell, pulling off the grumpy old actor and the kindlier man who develops as the role of Doctor Who brings him closer to his granddaughter. The only problem is that we do not see his portrayal of Doctor Who after it has been a success. Some of these scenes can be seen on the BBC Website, but it is a shame they couldn't have been included on the page itself. He portrays well the scenes of Hartnell developing from a mad old man to a friend of all children, to a grumpy old man with memory faults. 

 The rest of the cast are smaller. The companions serve as an example of how time has passed. As they start to change, you can see William Hartnell's alienation. Brian Cox is great as Sydney Newman, a larger than life character who feels like he was well recreated from the 1966 interview. Waris Hussein is also successfully portrayed. The racism towards Waris is also shown.

The weakest link in the cast is Reece Shearsmith as Patrick Troughton. He seems to be playing the Second Doctor rather than Patrick Troughton, who was not like the impish man on screen. Fortunately he is only on screen for a few minutes and does not get in the way.

The best moment is seeing the Hartnell regeneration, as Hartnell glimpses the Matt Smith incarnation. It shows the legacy that the show will impart. People may, quite rightly, appreciate the work of Russell T Davies or Steven Moffat, but it's good to acknowledge the people who started the whole thing, and didn't get enough plaudits.

Overall, this is a good tribute to the creators of Doctor Who.

8/10

Looking back at the 50th Anniversary celebrations

The 50th anniversary weekend celebrations are over. Looking back, was it all any good? The answer definitely a yes!

The main event programs were all good in their own way. The Day of the Doctor managed to be brilliant and ridiculous at the same time. An Adventure in Space and Time was touching and  The Five(ish) Doctors reboot was a fantastic piece of work by Peter Davison and deserves a DVD release of its own.

Some of the other events were a bit ridiculous, like The Ultimate Guide and the After Party. Others were tie ins, like The Science of Doctor Who and Celebrity Antiques Roadshow, but they all added to the sense that Doctor Who was "taking over television", like the showrunner had promised.

It wasn't just on television that the anniversary was being celebrated. One of my favourite stories this year was the DWM Comic strip story Hunters of the Burning Stone. The Doctor, in his eleventh incarnation, reunites with his very first companions, with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright in a sequel to the very first Doctor Who serial. It ends with the wedding of Ian and Barbara. A great story.

Reviews of An Adventure in Space and Time and The Night of the Doctor are coming soon, as soon as I've been able to put my thoughts into a coherent narrative.

My congratulations go to everyone involved in making it all work.

50 Years in the Tardis

The day of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is finally here. Back in the 40th anniversary year it was difficult to imagine Doctor Who becoming as popular as it is now. I have already enjoyed the 50th Celebration event at the Excel on Friday, especially getting to see the Waris Hussein panel.

I thought I'd list the stories which are currently my top ten favourites. These are in no particular order.

1. The Aztecs
It's great to have a story where every companion is well utilized by the script writer. We also get to see a rare example, in the original series, of the Doctor falling in love, before it became unfashionable in later fandom and then came back in the new series.

2. The War Games
An epic that only sags slightly in the middle and lifts up again pretty quickly. The World War One sections are well directed by David Maloney. The War Chief/Security Chief/War Lord trio are a wonderful group of villains.

3. The Ambassadors of Death
Like the reversal of the "thing in the spacecraft" being ambassadors. This sums up one of the things I like about Doctor Who, which is that he's far more likely to want to chat to the monsters than kill them. It manages to be an action serial while still having a good moral message.

4. The Ribos Operation
This story is a favourite for nostalgic reasons, because it was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw. It's a fun con caper. The Fourth Doctor and Romana I are one of my favourite Tardis teams.

5. Snakedance
It was a choice between this and Kinda and in the end I went with this story.
What makes this story interesting is the way that evil, in this case the Mara, can been trivialized by being merchandised.

6. The Caves of Androzani
Some people find this story very downbeat. To me it's the victory of the small man, the Fifth Doctor, overcoming incredible odds in a cynical world. Peri, the innocent person, is the only one to survive.

7. The Curse of Fenric
This story contains a lot of interesting musings on faith. Ian Briggs' comments on the DVD reveal that this is a story with plenty of layers. We also get a rare example, for the original series, of character development for the companion.

8. The End of the World

People tend to talk about the Russell T Davies era being earthbound, but this story features large amount of crazy aliens. It also has a wonderful note about things not lasting forever. 

9. Midnight
A very creepy Doctor Who story. Although this story sees the Tenth Doctor at his weakest, it is one of his best stories. A great script by Russell T Davies.

10. Vincent and the Doctor
While Steven Moffat's Doctor Who tends to focus on time bending events, this brilliant script focuses on the life of one man, Vincent Van Goth, and the theme of depression.

Doctor Who: The Night of the Doctor

Wow...

I was aware of the rumours that Paul McGann would return as the Eighth Doctor in a minisode showing his regeneration, but I never quite believed it would actually happen. The scene that fans have been hoping to see for eight years has finally come about, as the Doctor crashes on Karn and uses the elixir to regenerate into the War Doctor.

It was great to see Paul McGann playing the Doctor on screen again for the first time since 1996. He is still the romantic, Victorian adventure, with a brilliant new costume that looks like a battle ready version of the original 1996 look. It's a frustrating reminder of what we were deprived of, thanks to the decision not to make a TV series in the late 90s.

It is largely thanks to Big Finish Audios that Paul has been able to keep playing the Doctor, so it was fitting to hear the Eighth  Doctor referring to his companions from the audio  plays on screen. For a certain kind of fan, this screen reference will canonise the audios. It's a delightful bit of fan service that you could only get away with in the anniversary year.

The main reason this exists is to confirm that John Hurt's "War Doctor" is a genuine incarnation of the Doctor, and not a fake or parallel universe version of the character. It  would be strange for the production team to go to the trouble of filming a regeneration for a fake Doctor, but then again, it could all be part of a great deception. It will certainly be interesting to find out the truth.

This kind of thing of makes you wish for much more. Perhaps they could delay Peter Capaldi's entrance and do a series of Paul McGann adventures instead? Seriously though, this is a great present for the fans and makes the anniversary special seem more promising.

Rediscovered episodes of Doctor Who

Thanks to a certain Philip Morris of Television International Enterprises Archives, nine episodes of Doctor Who were recovered and are now available on itunes. These are episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Enemy of the World and episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Web of Fear. This means that Enemy of the World is now complete and Web of Fear is only missing Episode 3.

My first experience of The Enemy of the World was reading the telesnaps in Doctor Who Magazine, way back in 1999. It seemed like an interesting story with the Doctor disguising himself as an evil human lookalike called Salamander. While the still images made the story look fascinating, it will be great to see those images moving, as they should be. Not only can we now see more scenes of Patrick Troughton playing Salamander, but for the first time we will be able to watch Patrick Troughton playing the Doctor pretending to be Salamander, which should be good. This is also the first opportunity to watch Episode 4, which did not even exist in telesnap format. Fans may not consider this story to be one of the best but I enjoy it regardless.  And who really cares if it's iconic or not? It's great to have it back and and maybe now it will get more appreciation?

The Web of Fear is a straightforward army vs monsters story and not without its problems. The Great Intelligence has no reason to be using the Yeti again other than the fact that the writers wanted to bring back their old monster. There's also the dodgy Jewish stereotype in episode 1. Fortunately,  Douglas Camfield's direction saves it, making it look pretty atmospheric. And regardless of the quality, the return of any missing episodes of Doctor Who is better than none - unless it's The Celestial Toymaker. 

This has been one of the largest number of episodes to be found in ages and one of the best anniversary presents yet. I still don't know why the BBC bother with these midnight news releases when it's inevitable that someone will break the embargo. They should just release the news first and then have a press conference. Anyway, thanks once again to Philip Morris. Only 97 episodes left to find now. 

Ben Affleck cast as Batman

So...Ben Affleck is going to be playing Batman in the Man of Steel sequel.

Well he's already played Daredevil, so this it's not a great leap to imagine him playing Batman. He did a decent job in what was a pretty standard movie.

I think he's a fairly decent choice. Some people might not be okay with his casting, but then again, people didn't like it when Michael Keaton was cast for the 1989 movie and he turned out great.

It'll be interesting to see what he does with this role.

Peter Capaldi is The Twelfth Doctor

Well, this was a surprise. I'd heard Peter Capaldi's name being mentioned in connection with the role but thought it sounded too good to be true. I'm glad I was proved wrong.

I think he's a brilliant choice. He was excellent as John Frobisher in Children of the Earth and I've heard good things about his performance as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of it. He's also the first older Doctor that we've had in ages and should make a good contrast to Matt Smith. My only concern is what the kids will make of him. Will they be willing to accept an older actor as the Doctor? Time will tell, and he has my support either way.

I admit I was gutted when Matt Smith's departure was announced and didn't really care who his successor would turn out to be. But this piece of casting has renewed my interest in the show's future.

Is it time for a new type of companion on Doctor Who?

Neil Gaiman supposedly wrote his first draft of Nightmare of Silver with the Victorian version of Clara from The Snowmen.  Steven Moffat obviously changed his mind about this and went for another modern day girl.  But what if he had stuck to his guns? Would this have made Series 7 better?

Since the modern series began in 2005, every companion from Rose Tyler to Clara Oswald has originated from 21st century Earth. The producers argue that this is because the companion must be someone that audiences can relate to.  They are our viewpoint into a crazy world of space and monsters. The best examples of this from the original series are Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. They were just ordinary school teachers in an unremarkable London comprehensive. There were many scenes in the early episodes focusing on their reactions to unusual situations.

But  as the classic series went on, the producers tried out different variations such as a jacobite from the past, an alien maths genius from a pocket universe and even a robot dog! Some of these risks paid off, some of them didn't, but at least the producers were trying to make things interesting. By playing it safe, the show may in danger of becoming predictable.

And being from modern day Earth is no guarantee that the companion will be well defined. I don't think fans of the classic series would have complained if the resourceful and intelligent 16th century serving girl Anne Chaplet had joined the Tardis crew at the end of The Massacre instead of the contemporary but dull Dodo Chaplet. A similar situation applies to the modern series. There is little in Series 7 that defines Clara as a modern woman. She has no family, hobbies or anything that ties her to the modern world. She might as well be a Victorian. There is certainly nothing in the adventures that requires her to be modern. It's easy to imagine that Bells of St John could be first trip in the Tardis for the Victorian Clara. Through her eyes we could see the wonder in the modern world that we take for granted. The computer skills download that she gets from the Spoonhead could have been a useful plot device to enable Victorian Clara to learn about the modern world very quickly.

Personally, I feel that a one off experiment would be good. I don't want Jenna Coleman to leave for a long time, but when she does, maybe the producer could try something a bit different?

Knightmare Returns!

I’m surprised and excited to hear that Knightmare is being revived as a one off episode to feature in “Geek Week” on YouTube. This episode has been produced by the show's creator, Tim Child, and Hugo Myatt is returning as Tregard.

This is great news! I remember watching some of the later episodes of the show on CITV when I was younger. I was able to enjoy it again recently, during the CITV’s “Old Skool Weekend”, earlier this year. And now, fans will get to enjoy a whole new episode. Good times!

I'm definitely going to try and watch this if I get the chance.

Pandas, Gardening and the colourful lives of artists, at the Lightbox

For any art enthusiasts who are crazy enough to be reading this blog, The Lightbox Museum and Art Gallery in Woking is currently running some very interesting exhibitions.

The main exhibition on at the moment is ‘Gertrude Jekyll: Landscape Gardener and Craftswoman” which, as the title makes obvious, is about the life of garden designer Gertrude Jeckyll. The exhibition itself is very well designed and well worth seeing, even for people like me who are not that enthusiastic about gardening.

Pandamonium is a collection of artworks that are commissioned in support of the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF are building a new centre nearby and their work towards helping wildlife is very important. There are some very humorous works of art, made using the panda collection boxes which were discontinued in 2007.Others might be fascinated by some of the fashion designs, such as a dress of flowers which will become more colourful when water is applied. It is the only dress that women wouldn’t mind spilling liquid over.

Finally, the Ingram Collection includes works from a diverse range of contemporary artists, including Eduardo Paolozzi, John Bratby and many others. I particularly liked the Paolozzi piece.

So, if you’re reading this you like art galleries or museums then come along. And if you have visited before, why not come back and bring someone who hasn’t been yet?

Farewell to Matt Smith

So, yeah, no more Eleventh Doctor after the 2013 Christmas Special.

Damn. I was hoping he would do Series 8, at least. It's a bit of a shame that in his four years of being the Doctor, Matt has only been able to complete three whole series. This also means that the 50th anniversary celebrations are now going to be overshadowed by the gloom of knowing about the Eleventh Doctor’s departure.

Still, while part of me is sad that Matt is going, the more rational side of me knows that I should respect his decision. If he personally feels that now is the right time to go then fandom should support him. It’s better for him to go out on a high and look for new opportunities than to get bored and feel trapped in the same old role

The first time I saw Matt Smith was in 2006 when he played 'Jim' in The Ruby in the Smoke. I thought he was okay in the role but I would never have considered him for the role of the Doctor.
A couple of years later, when he was revealed as the Eleventh Doctor in The Eleven Doctors confidential special, I was one of the doubters. How could this young man possibly play a 900 year old Time Lord? I imagined Series 5 would be full of scenes of him being overshadowed by his older, more experienced, more charismatic fellow cast members and unable to stand up to the villains. The promotional shot of him in the dark suit, standing by the Tardis did him no favours in my eyes. It made him look like an emo Doctor who had been tailored to appeal to the teenage demographic.

Then, in July 2009 we saw the first pictures of Matt in his tweed jacket and bow tie and I really liked it. It was a relief to see that he would not be an emo Doctor after all, and I was fascinated that Matt's had chosen to play the Doctor as a more of a professor than the previous new series Doctors. As the months went by I got more snippets about the new Doctor. Then, on 1st January 2010, the Eleventh Doctor made his screen debut in The End of Time. In only a few minutes of screen time Matt Smith proved that he could be quirky and funny. This new Doctor was starting to show great promise. 

Finally, in April 2010, “The Eleventh Hour” aired and any remaining doubts were dispelled. Matt Smith proved that he could act well with children, be funny and stand up to the enemies. Since then he’s got better and better and now I find it difficult to imagine anyone replacing him.

I became a fan during the Wilderness Years so I never got attached to any particular Doctor as I was watching all of their stories out of order. But once the new series started I was able to watch all of them in order, and Matt Smith is the Doctor that I have connected with the most. It’s going to take me a while to adjust to the notion of a Twelfth Doctor. 

Still, it's not over just yet. Matt is still the Doctor until the end of the year. If I have any message for Matt Smith then it's this: Thanks for being the Doctor, Matt! They said no one could replace David Tennant but you managed it. You made bow ties cool. You’ve been brilliant and I hope you go on to do greater things!

Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor

This is the episode we have all been anticipating. The episode that was supposed to pay off the reference to Trenzalore at the end of Series Six. The episode that was supposed to resolve the mystery of Clara Oswald, the girl who died twice. It didn't seem like Steven Moffat would be able to tie up so many loose threads in only 45 minutes. Fortunately, as before, he has proved himself capable of handling such an assignment.

The episode opens with an early 50th anniversary treat for the fans, as Clara falls through time and encounters all of the Doctors. Clara's encounter with the original Doctor is also the first time that viewers have had the opportunity to see how the First Doctor and Susan departed from Gallifrey. The quality of the footage may be a little ropey, but it’s the thought that counts. Of course, I don’t know how the general public responded to all these kisses to the past,  but with all the publicity the show's received over the past eight years, many are probably already aware of the existence of the previous Doctors.

The story involves Vastra, Jenny and Strax being abducted by creatures called the Whispermen on behalf of the Great Intelligence. The Doctor is forced to follow them to Trenzalore, where his future self is buried. Steven Moffat may well have been inspired by the Eight Doctor novel, Alien Bodies. Both stories feature the Doctor coming across his own dead body which his enemies are after. But while in Alien Bodies, the aliens wanted to borrow items from the Doctor’s timeline, here, the aliens are using the Doctor’s timeline to rewrite his history. Moffat goes one step further than Miles by making the Tardis the Doctor’s tomb.

While it was nice to see the return of the Great Intelligence, once again in the form of Richard E Grant, the villain did not accomplish very much. The Intelligence’s scheme was to erase the Doctor from the timelines was something that could have been done by any of the Doctor's old enemies. The intelligence of old never struck me as a self destructive type, as this scheme would have it. Apparently the Intelligence can now travel through time and is completely aware of the Doctor. The Intelligence's servants, the Whispermen, are pretty chilling creatures, along the lines of the Gentlemen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although they don't really do anything other than act as sentries and kidnappers.

The Paternoster Gang, were once again a great deal of fun. Vastra got a lot more emotional material. It was slightly annoying that Jenny was killed and came back to life, but then again I would’ve missed the character. Strax was just the same as ever.

Jenna Louise Coleman once again is good as Clara. She gets a bit more to work with in her decision to jump into the timeline and her memories of her mother. The mystery of Clara Oswald is almost given away in the first few moments. It is no surprise when she does jump into the Doctor’s time stream. Now that this mystery has been resolved, maybe the creators can let us get to know her a little better in Series 8. Clara really needs an episode like The Girl Who Waited or Turn Left to explore what she is really like.

I had been dreading River Song's return ever since I found out that she was coming back.. Her death in the library in Forest of the Dead was perfect and I didn't want it undone. I was also worried that it would be a gratuitous appearance, that Steven Moffat simply could not bare losing his favourite character and wanted her to go on forever. Fortunately I was proved wrong as this version of River is essentially a ghost, hanging around at the sidelines of the adventure and offering advice rather than being directly involved. Her final conversation with the Doctor and their kiss feel like the end of unfinished business that will allow her to depart the plane. Still, I have a feeling we may still see River Song again, but if this does turn out to be her final appearance, it is still a great ending to go out on.

There are the usual elements that Steven Moffat likes to recycle. The ending, of Clara appearing in the Doctor’s past is slightly reminiscent of The Big Bang, especially when the Doctor attempts to bring her back by appealing to her memories.

The best moment of the episode is reveal of the Other Doctor, played by John Hurt. This is the scene where the true meaning of the “Name of the Doctor” title becomes apparent. All the way back in The Beast Below, the Doctor told Amy that he'd have to give up the name of the Doctor if he killed the Star Whale. Now we are seeing an example of an incarnation of the Doctor who has lost the right to be called by that title. My theory, based on the evidence of spoiler photos, is that he is probably a Time War Doctor. I’m hoping that this is not a hoax, because this could be a very interesting direction to take the Doctor into.

There is still the unanswered question of who is the ”Shop Girl” was who first gave Clara the Doctor’s phone number. Will it be answered in the 50th? The next season, or has Moffat forgotten? We’ll have to wait until 23rd November to find out.

The Name of the Doctor is not a perfect episode by any means, but it answered all of the important questions and ended with a great new mystery. I can’t wait to see what Steven Moffat has in store for us with the 50th anniversary episode!

8/10

Doctor Who: Nightmare in Silver

Neil Gaiman's first Doctor Who script, The Doctor's Wife, was one the more successful episodes of Series Six, and also a personal favourite of mine. It was great to finally have a story which properly explored the notion of the Tardis as a living thing. For his second go, Neil Gaiman attempted to make the Cybermen scary again. In this he has only partially succeeded.

The basic story is that of the Cybermen hunting down soldiers on an abandoned theme park world.Unfortunately there are lots of unnecessary elements added into the mix, such as the Doctor playing chess against the Cyber Planner, and the impresario Webley collecting the shells of Cybermen, all of which feel like they were distracting from the main purpose.

Still, there's an interesting attempt at world building going on in this episode. The future is ruled by an Empire which has been at war with the Cyberiad, a term which apparently refers to all the different Cyber Variants, such as Cyber-Mats and Cybershades. . Gaiman also adds to the notoriety of the Cybermen by suggesting that a whole galaxy had to be wiped out in order to stop a Cyberman. Even now, if a Cyberman is found then a planet must be destroyed. This goes a long way to making them seem threatening again.

The  new Cybermen look fantastic. Their new design is sleeker and more streamlined compared to the chunky Cybus versions. They may not be as physically intimidating as their 2006 predecessors but with their fast running they seem to be more mobile and have more movement.
The best new feature is their ability to upgrade and adapt to any weaponry used against them. Some have argued that this makes the Cybermen too similar to Star Trek's Borg, but since the Borg were borrowed from Cybermen anyway, it is not much of a problem. The new voices are neither better nor worse. Just different. Overall, these new Cybermen are the best part of the episode, even if they play second fiddle to the Cyber Planner. A much better redesign than the Dalek paradigm.

The Cybermites are awesome. More mobile than the cumbersome Cybermats of old. It is creepy when they crawl out of the shell of an old Cyberman. They are more than worthy of being permanent replacements.

Matt Smith gets a lot to do this week, playing both the Doctor and the Cyber-Planner Doctor.
The Cyber Planner version is very camp and over the top, its exaggerated mannerisms and voice is a reminder of how much more depth Matt Smith usually puts into the Doctor.Part of me feels the Cyber Controller should have been more emotionless though.

Jenna Louise Coleman is once again great in the role of Clara. She gets a lot to do this week in ordering a military platoon around. However, she seemed a bit too efficient with a gun for someone who had never been a soldier before. Perhaps this is a clue that she is secretly the Doctor's perfect companion. Or it could just be the writing.

While I don't share Who fandom's general hatred towards child characters, I found that Artie and Angie  were a bit annoying. Angie especially so. Her first line in the episode is "Your stupid box can't even get us to the right place". Most people would be amazed that the box even could travel in time and space, but not Angie. Once the Cyberman plot commences there's no time to see Artie and Angie's reactions to being in an alien world. The story doesn't even show us their first reactions to stepping into the Tardis. As a  result the characters feel like they were bolted onto the story.

Warwick Davies is great as Porridge. The revelation that he is the Emperor is pretty obvious,, but he gets the most development of any of the other characters. The character is very similar to the Doctor, being a man who has to blow up his own people and couldn't live with the guilt. I wasn't convinced by his proposal to Clara. The two characters hadn't spent that much time together and the proposal felt like it came out of the blue.

The rest of the cast are sadly pretty unmemorable. The punishment Platoon are one dimensional characters with single character traits. When they are killed you do not care them. I liked the showman character, Webley, but he very quickly becomes unnecessary to the plot.

The mystery of Clara is once again not developed. All we get is the obligatory scene where the Doctor puzzles over his 'impossible girl' along with a hint that he fancies Clara. Next week's episode, the final one in the series, has a lot to live up to.

This is a pretty uneven episode. It might have benefited from having a streamlined plot, like Cold War had. If the focused was entirely on the revival of the Cybermen and not on the Doctor's chess game, or the kids, it might have worked a lotbetter.  With the last shot of a Cybermite floating in space, we'll undoubtedly see these Cybermen again. Let's just hope their next appearance is a lot better.

7/10

Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror

It's hard to believe that Vastra, Jenny and Strax have only appeared in three Doctor Who stories so far. It feels as if they have been around for much longer. The character of Madame Vastra only exists because John Barrowman wasn't available to play Captain Jack in A Good Man Goes to War, but she and the other gang members feel like they're as important to the Matt Smith era as UNIT did to the Jon Pertwee era. This Doctor-lite episode gives the writer, Mark Gatiss, a chance to show these guys investigating without the Doctor.

The year is 1893. Bodies are turning up in Yorkshire covered in what the pathologist calls "the Crimson Horror", a substance that turns peoples' bodies waxy and red. The Paternoster Gang are investigating the death of one of the victims when they find the image of the Doctor left on the eye of the dead man.

Jenny has been the least developed of the three Gang members, so it is great that she is the one who is sent to the Yorkshire town of Sweetville to investigate, allowing her to take centre stage for a while. We get to see her infiltrate, fend for herself, and martial arts skills against the supermodel residents of the factory town. She also gets an opportunity to save the Doctor when he is found, infected with the crimson horror and being held prisoner

Vastra takes more of a back seat. However, she is the only one who is able to recognize that the Crimson Horror originated from the Jurassic period. Strax continues to be a slightly one joke character, threatening to shoot everything and everyone.

After Jenny rescues the Doctor, and he somehow uses the sonic screwdriver to cure himself and Clara of the disease, the Paternoster Gang take more of a back seat as the Doctor takes charge. Matt Smith seems to be playing the Doctor on autopilot this week. Since it is a comedy episode, and his supporting cast are taking a more important role, the Doctor doesn't have to do much.

The mastermind behind the Crimson Horror is Mrs Gillyflower, a very arch villain played expertly by Dame Diana Rigg. She manages to balance out the archness with the seriousness. It is not entirely clear since she is planning to poison the world and preserve perfect people to survive. Still, this episode is such a barrel of laughs you never stop to care. Mrs Gillyflower's daughter, Ada, is a more sympathetic, and slightly more human character. One of the only blind characters to appear in the whole of Doctor Who. Rachel Sterling portrays Ada in a more downplayed note. It is funny to see mother and daughter actor in reverse roles.

The creature motivating Mrs Gillyflower, Mr Sweet is a sickly red parasite attached to Mrs Gillyglower's body. There is something disgusting about the little thing. Its death at Ada's cane are wonderfully gooey and sick.

Where Cold War was a love letter to the Ice Warriors, Gatiss is writing his other favourite retro genre, the penny dreadful. The pathologist felt like a character from The League of Gentlemen. It also borrows heavily from the James Bond film Moonraker, with a rocket taking off and a villain wanting to poison the world so that a new master race can take over. Pastiche is nothing new in Doctor Who. It is Gatiss' confidence in playing with his favourite genres that makes the plot feel so good.

One negative aspect to this tale is that, once again, we get no progress on Clara's true identity.
The reason this story happens is because the Doctor took Clara to 1893 to relate her to the Governess Clara from The Snowmen. But by the end of the episode, they leave the Victorian period, no closer to any answers. Another problem is the unconvincing on ending where Clara's kids, Artie and Angie, reveal that they have seen Clara's picture in old photographs and blackmail their carer into taking them in the Tardis or else they will show their dad. It's hard to believe their dad would believe his children, rather than thinking it was just a photoshop job.

A few niggles aside, The Crimson Horror is a strong episode. All of the jokes are funny, witht he possible exception of the cheesy "Thomas Thomas" joke. It is better than Gatiss' other episode, Cold War and on par with The Unquiet Dead as one of the best scripts he has written for the new series. I'm not convinced it makes him good enough to be the next show runner, but it does show that he has promise.

8/10

Back to the beginning...(contains spoilers)

A further anniversary treat for Doctor Who fans was revealed today as new pictures from the filming of the 50th anniversary Special show the return of Coal Hill School and Totters Lane. Evidence suggests that these scenes are taking place in contemporary London.

   

It's good to see a reference to Ian Chesterton. He's now the Chairman of Governors. It appears to be modern times. Fingers crossed that William Russell will make a cameo!

  

...spelt with the "e" this time round. A modern policeman was filmed walking out of the gates in a nice homage of the opening shot of An Unearthly Child. 

This is a nice nod to the past. Hopefully we'll see more of these are more details of the special are revealed.

Doctor Who 7x10: Journey to the Centre of the Tardis

It's a rare and exciting occasion to see the inner corridors and rooms of the Tardis. The Sleeping Quarters were seen in Edge of Destruction while The Masque of Mandragora introduced the corridors and the secondary console room. Later stories, such The Invasion of Time, Logopolis and Castrovalva, showed how deep and labyrinthine the ship could be. The current series has dipped its toes in the water with The Doctor's Wife and now, with Journey to the Centre of the Tardis, we get an entire episode devoted to looking through different rooms of the ship.

Seeing these different rooms is the highlight of the episode. There are numerous fan pleasing moments throughout, such as the swimming pool, the Eye of Harmony and the sound of the cloister bell tolling. There were also some great new areas such as the grand, gothic, library complete with bottled knowledge and books. In fact, the episode is full of wonderful looking locations, such as the white void with the wreckage of the Tardis engines floating inside it. It's a far cry from the brick walled location filming of The Invasion of Time. As with other Tardis stories like Logopolis and Castrovalva, there is a lot of technobabble, but it is allowed just this once.

The Tardis isn't the only thing that is bigger on the inside. People are too. The characters all have secrets that they're keeping. Gregor and Bram Van Baalen have been pretending that their brother, Tricky, is an android so that they could keep him from become the Captain. The Doctor is keeping his suspicions about Clara, and the meaning of the zombie creatures that are stalking the corridors, to himself. Clara, meanwhile, uncovers the secret of the Doctor's name in a book on the history of the Time War. Like the Tardis interior, each of these secrets is slowly uncovered.

It is therefore very disappointing when the story is resolved through a reset switch and everyone's memories of the adventure are erased. There is at least a hint that Gregor Van Baalens will remember to treat Tricky in a better manner, so perhaps the memories are still present in the Doctor and Clara's head. Then again, it still feels like a waste of time to pretend you're developing Clara when you're not. It's almost as if the adventure might as well have never happened. Since the next episode features Vastra, Jenny and Strax I had assumed that the Doctor and Clara were going back in time to the period of The Snowmen look for clues about Clara's origins. It's a wasted opportunity.

The Doctor was far less quirky this week in the face of danger. This allowed Matt Smith to show the darker side of the Doctor which has become less common of late. He was very effective because of this. His best moment was when he confessed to Clara that he is suspicious of her, finally releasing all of his pent up anxiety over her origins. This is probably the most interesting portrayal of the Doctor of Series 7B.

There is very little development for Clara this week, as she exists here simply to get into trouble in the Tardis. The scenes of her screaming at the zombie creatures and having to be rescued by the Doctor almost harked back to the "classic" era companions. But not in a good way. She seems to know nothing about her other selves and thinks she is just an ordinary girl. The focus on mystery over character development is starting to hurt the character. My favourite moment is when she becomes scared of the Doctor.

The Van Baalen brothers are refreshingly banal villains. Where many Doctor Who villains want to take over the universe, they just want to sell scrap for a living. It was also nice that they were a family,creating a more interesting relationship between the characters. Gregor, played by Ashley Waters, is the bastard, tricking his younger brother. Bram displays less personality while Tricky is the only one who really shows any sign of compassion. I didn't quite buy the idea of Gregor and Bram convincing Tricky that he is an android. How could anyone believe they were an android if they were feeling physical pain or had to eat because they were hungry? It was a weak sub plot.

All in all this was a good episode with strong visuals and ideas, let down only by having a rubbish ending and a slightly odd sub plot about Tricky. One can only hope that the remaining two episodes will do a better job of developing the Doctor and companion relationship before the finale arrives.

7/10

Doctor Who 7x09: Hide

"Behind the sofa" is a term which has been mentioned in conjunction with Doctor Who many times. There are many fans who think that Doctor Who should be scary. As a fan during the wilderness years, I found most of the "classic" series stories too dated to be considered creepy.  The Web of Fear is the only story where I can understand why it was considered scary on its first broadcast, with all the shadows and paranoia about a traitor. Hide is a story that should appeal to fans of spooky Doctor Who, although the sunny weather on the day of broadcast spoiled the atmosphere somewhat. Nevertheless, there's still a great deal to like about this episode.

The Doctor and Clara arrive at Caliburn house, where Professor Alec Palmer and his assistant, an empathic psychic called Emma Grayling, are searching for the ghast known as "The Witch of the Well".  These two supporting characters are established as Doctor and companion types. Professor Palmer, like the Doctor, is a war survivor who hides secrets from his female assistant. Emma Grayling is a far more vulnerable character.

The interaction between the main cast is what made this episode good. The Doctor and the Professor talking about war provides a sombre moment for the two old soldiers, while Clara is confident enough to make Emma admit to her liking of the Professor.

The Doctor and Clara also have a few good shared moments of their own. Clara finally starts to see how distant a Time Lord can be when the Doctor travels from the beginning to the end of the earth for traces of the ghast. The Doctor himself is playing a goofy person for her benefit, but drops this in the company of the Professor and when he is asking Emma about Clara's identity.

This was the first episode that Jenna played Clara, and while there were a few moments where she seemed more subdued, I could see this was the same character as in the other 7B episodes. Her facial expression when the Doctor is spouting technobabble in the Tardis is hilarious.

The Crooked Man was a decent monster. Like the creatures of Silent Hill, the horror of this monster comes from the way it deforms the basic human shape to create something uneasy.

Jamie Payne does a good job directing this episode. The constant flashes of the monster or Hila, help to create a sense of unease. The production also does a good job of separating the real Caliburn House with the pocket universe version through use of colour tones. The real one brown and the echo universe blue. The only niggle was the scene where Matt's bow tie reappeared after he removed it. I guess that production team had so many shots of Matt in that forest that they slipped up.

A less forgivable mistake, in the eyes of the fans, was Matt Smith's pronunciation of "Metebelis 3", the planet of the Third Doctor's final adventure. I do sympathize with Matt as I used to pronounce it the same way he did before I finally saw Planet of the Spiders. There's also the tiny question of why Eleven had access to the Blue Crystals after they had all been destroyed along with the Great One. Then again he's a time traveller and may have picked it up in the past.

Hide certainly had more depth than Cold War and more focus than Rings of Akhaten. Only a few issues are preventing me from ranking this episode on par with Bells of St John.

8/10

Doctor Who 7x08: Cold War

The return of the Ice Warriors was definitely exciting news for long time fans, including myself, but probably not so interesting for the general public. Despite appearing four times in the "classic" series, the big green martians have never achieved the same level of popularity as the Daleks or the Cybermen. Part of the problem is that the bulky armour they wear makes them very slow moving for a race of supposed warriors. Also the concept of green men from Mars is one of the least original in the eneitre show. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm of the writer, Mark Gatiss, and the work of the costume designer have come together to create a new and great looking warrior in a fairly solid story.

Grand Marshall Skaldak is a fantastic looking creature. The new armour ditches the large hips and lego hands that hampered the original, but maintains the turtle shell look and size that worked in the first place. It’s also great to finally be able to see inside the suit. The new voice is a slightly less successful change. While I can understand the production team wanting to get rid of the old whisper, the new voice occasionally sounds like a Judoon . The true form is slightly disappointing, but then, we fans have always had a better idea of what they’d look like in our heads. Anything else would be a disappointment. The personality takes the best elements from the original series. The decision to give him the daughter gives the Ice Warriors a bit more depth, as they’ve never been seen to have families before. It also makes me really want to see what a female ice warrior would be like.

The Cold War is an interesting period setting for an Ice Warrior to appear in. A war fought with espionage and missiles. It’s also nice that the story is set on a Russian submarine, not an English or American one. It makes a change from Gatiss’ usual Anglo-centric storytelling. Despite being created and televised during the Cold War, the original series of Doctor Who never really explored this topic.  The closest it came was with the 1984 story Warriors of the Deep, but even then the writer set the story in an allegorical 2084 to give some distance. It must be difficult for a 21st century child to imagine what the cold war was like, so this episode may have been quite educational for them.

The Submarine set is a brilliantly designed, cramped and dripping with water. An atmospheric base ready for a siege. Mike Tucker's model work for the exterior of the Submarine is also fairly decent. The Doctor Who production may well come tor rely on these kinds of effects more often, now that the Mill are closing down.

As far as the characters go Professor Grishenko is the best written. His enthusiasm for Ultravox and Western culture gives him a little bit of personality.David Warner is the kind of actor who always enhances the quality of any part he plays. No matter how small.

It’s good that Grishenko gets some characterization because the rest of the submarine crew are fairly bland bunch. The Captain had no personality. Lieutenant Stephasim was a standard aggressive character who is suspicious of the Doctor and Clara and wants nuclear war. He has no redeeming features and the viewer feels no sympathy when he is killed off. His sole reason for being in this story is to provide conflict. I don’t even remember the names of the rest of the crew. They were just redshirts to be picked off by the alien intruder.None of the characters really developed as the story progressed. It also seems strange that it was the older members of the crew who were against using the missiles. Certainly by the late 80s, teenagers were rebelling against their communist elders by wearing jeans, a sign of Western decadence. The younger crewmembers like Stephasim were the hotheads.

The previous two episodes have been so Clara-centric that it felt strange that she was pushed into the background for this episode. Clara gets a lot less of a meaty role than in previous weeks. She seemed like a generic companion with her “pass the test dialogue”. I’m willing to give Gatiss the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was having difficulty working out what the new companion's personality was supposed to be. Jenna’s natural charisma makes it work though.

There's also little to say about the Doctor this week. The plot of this episode vaguely resembled that of Dalek, with the Doctor coming face to face with a surviving member of a race of old enemies. The problem is that an Ice Warrior is less of a personal threat to the Doctor than a Dalek would be. Despite the fact that the Doctor nearly destroyed the submarine to stop Skaldak, it never felt as thought he Doctor was being emotionally pushed. With such thin material to work with, it felt like Matt Smith was on auto pilot this week - which is always fun to watch, but the script could've challenged Matt a bit more.

Another returning element from the Troughton era was the HADS, the defence mechanism that shifts the Tardis away from trouble. I assumed, when the Tardis first dissapeared from the submarine, that Clara’s previous comment that the Tardis didn’t like her had been correct and that the Tardis was trying to move away from her. Instead it turned out just a transparent plot device to stop the Tardis from being a convenient get out clause. The fact that it was the HADS, from the Patrick Troughton story The Krotons made it popular for some fans, but in the end it's just technobabble. However, I still like the idea of the Doctor and Clara having trek from the North to South pole. Knowing Big Finish's reputation, I imagine they'll one day do a trilogy about this journey. 

Compared to last week's ambitious episode, this was a well-made story with less ambition, and paper thin supporting characters. I preferred it when it was called Dalek. 

6/10

The Two Doctors!

The moment we've all been waiting to see...

Couldn't resist posting this. The two Doctors together outside the Tardis! Fans have been looking forward to this meeting, so it's great to finally get a glimpse of it. Unsurprisingly it looks as if it will be the genuine tenth Doctor, not the Doctor/Donna version, that will be appearing in the special.

I'm still in two minds about whether I think having older Doctors in the special is a good idea or not, but I have little doubt that I will enjoy seeing these two Doctors interacting with each other.

Doctor Who 7x07: The Rings of Akhaten

Although the modern series of Doctor Who has featured various alien planets, there have been fewer examples of alien societies. There's been nothing like the Federation of Snakedance or the city of Shur in The Ribos Operation. It's rare now for the Doctor and his companion to soak up the atmosphere of said world. For once, fans have been granted this privilege, when the Doctor takes Clara on her first journey into space to the Rings of Akhaten, a society of seven worlds orbiting a sun, during their Festival of Offerings.

The arrival on Akhaten is the best part of the episode, giving a good sense of wonder. The opening shot of the alien Sun is an impressive piece of FX work from The Mill. Moments later, the Doctor is introducing Clara to a bazaar full of weird and wonderful alien beings. It's great to see so many monsters in one room, although many of them have probably been recycled from previous Doctor Who stories. I think I spotted the Hoix from Love and Monsters wearing the breathing apparatus of a Hath from The Doctor’s Daughter. I liked the Do’reen creature though, and It's always refreshing to see aliens that don't want to take over the world.

However, a fantastic location still needs a decent plot, and this is where the episode falters. In the market, Clara is separated from the Doctor and meets up with a young girl called Merry, also known as the Queen of Years, well played by a child actor who manages to seem sincere. Merry is being pursued by religious people  in red robes. It transpires that the society of Akhaten trades in memories and stories. So Merry is to sing a song during the Festival which will keep an Old God in slumber. Using her experience with children, Clara convinces Merry to sing. When the Doctor and Clara attend the ceremony, Merry sings and is taken to the Temple. The quality of the CGI takes a dip at the point where the Doctor and Clara have to take a Speeder across to the Temple. For some reason they don’t need any kind of space suit or oxygen mask, and it is never made clear that there is supposed to be a vacuum in space.

The Doctor and Clara arrive at the Pyramid Temple, which when the plot really starts to fall apart. Inside the temple the Doctor and Clara, find Merry and a Chorister, in front of a glass case containing a Mummy on a throne. The Mummy is waking up. At this point episode turns into one long dialogue of exposition with the Doctor, Merry and the Chorister taking it in turns to explain what’s supposed to be happening. It turns out that Merry was always supposed to sacrifice her soul, or story, to the Old God.

Also present in the story is a group of creatures called the Vigil appear to take the sacrifice. I haven't mentioned them before and that is because they are almost irrelevant to the story. They are meant to be bringing Merry to the God as a sacrifice, but the people in red robes have already done this themselves.It is not clear where the Vigil come from, why they exist or how they came to do what they do.

Eventually the Mummy wakes and dies. It turns out that the Mummy is an alarm clock and not the God after all. The real God is the sun. Why did the natives need an alarm clock? It is never revealled. The Sun God appears to have a jack o'lantern face, making it look more ridiculous than scary.

The ending is a real mess. The Doctor sends Merry and Clara away from the Temple. All the aliens join Merry for a little singalong to appease the Sun God, which is as twee as it sounds. The Doctor appears to be sacrificing his memories to overfeed the Sun, but all it does is to drain his strength and his memories don’t seem to be affected. It takes Clara, using the leaf from her Journal of 101 Places to See. I don’t quite know why this is more effective than the Doctor’s memories.

Sadly, we don’t get to see what effect the Sun’s disappearance has on the inhabitants of Akhaten, as the scene cuts straight from the Sun’s defeat to the Doctor bringing Clara back to Earth. The only consolation is knowing that the inhabitants of Akhaten have returned the ring that Clara left earlier. It’s all very patchy. Perhaps a rewrite ended up losing some of the material.

This is a story that is more interesting in a magical sense, which Gods and stories. The stories thing also ties in with Clara’s backstory. Just as Clara’s leaf has a special story of bringing her parents’ together, so she herself is special and unique from the two other Claras.

Matt Smith continues to impress and gets a great Doctorish speech against the Sun God. He's also pretty funny in the Bazaar, and his high pitched barks with Do’reen are hilarious. The Doctor is more in the background this week. The mention his granddaughter is good. It is possible that Neil Cross intended to draw a parallel between the Doctor, as a Time Lord and the Grandfather Sun as two impossibly old things. But that’s not at all clear.

Clara continues to be well played by Jenna Louise Coleman. The Pre titles sequence reveals more about Clara’s history, but we learn slightly less about the girl herself. She appears to have led an ordinary life, but perhaps the falling leaf and chain of circumstances of circumstances leading to her parents meeting were coincidence? However, I’m more inclined to believe that whatever splits Clara into multiple people is something that happens in her future, possibly the Doctor unwittingly creating this.

Former showrunner Russell T Davies once said that audiences do not care about aliens from the planet Zog without human characters. He is right in some respects, as it is difficult to make audiences care about made up worlds. The Rings of Akhaten shows many of the pros and cons of the alien society storyline. In a way, Neil Cross' first Doctor Who episode is as ambitious and risky as The Web Planet was in 1965. In spite of its faults, I still find I quite like this episode. An ambitious failure is better than an unambitious one. In the end, this episode doesn’t quite live up to its potential, but I like what they were aiming for.

7/10

Jemma Redgrave returns as Kate Stewart in the 50th Anniversary Special

It has been revealed today that Jemma Redgrave will be reprising the role of Kate Stewart for the 50th Anniversary Special.

I loved the character in The Power of Three, so it will be great to see her again. Kate's presence also means that the legacy of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart will be celebrated in the anniversary year.

This Special is becoming more exciting by the minute.

The news so far on the Doctor Who 50th anniversary Special (possible spoilers)...

It's the end of the first week of shooting on Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, and certain pieces of information have been revealed over that time. Let's take a look at what's been ascertained so far...

The most exciting news, revealed last Saturday, is that David Tennant and Billie Piper are returning for the special. Hooray! Some people have speculated that he will be playing the 10.5 Doctor from Journey's End, but I think this is very unlikely. The audience wants to see the Tenth Doctor, not his substitute.

David Tennant has already been spotted filming this week. Anyone interested should search the web. So far there have been no clear pictures of Billie Piper, but I imagine that sooner or later they will be appearing. 

In other casting news, John Hurt, famous from the Harry Potter movies and I Claudius, is also making an appearance in the special. His casting has been overshadowed by the Tennant and Piper news, but it's great to have such an established actor in the show.

The Zygons will becoming back. Although these monsters have been popular it's the first time anyone tried to revive them. The production team appear to have stuck very closely to the original design with only minor modifications.

As with the Ice Warriors, they are keeping the design similar.

Another cast member is Joanna Page from Gavin and Stacey. People can find out who she is playing by looking at the spoiler pictures.

With Tennant, Piper, Hurt and the Zygons, the special is looking interesting. Who knows what other treats are in store for the viewers?

Doctor Who 7x06: The Bells of St John

In the first episode of the new series, the Doctor meets a new companion in contemporary London. He and his companion proceed to stop a takeover plan by an alien that is using a famous London landmark as its base of operations.  This description could cover several Doctor Who episodes from the past seven years of the new series, starting with Rose. Even the enemy, the Great Intelligence, is an old one and the new companion is someone the audience has met twice before. It should all feel tired and dated, but due to the work of the people behind and in front of the camera, it manages to seem fresh and exciting.

One thing that has definitely made the episode feel fresh is the chemistry between Matt Smith and Jenna Louise Coleman. I don't think it would matter who the companion was, Jenna would be great at playing anyone. She has already played two different incarnations of Clara with great success and the third one is shaping up to be just as memorable. This contemporary version already has the nanny aspect of the Governess Clara and eventually gains the computer hacking skills of the others. She is also slightly less flamboyant than the others and is more down to earth. She is witty in her chat with the Doctor and vulnerable when facing the robot 'spoonheads'. One new key factor is that she wants to travel, and has kept a journal for places to visit. However, she does not leave people behind. I like the fact that she did not immediately follow the Doctor into the Tardis and asked him to come back the next day. It demonstrates that she's an intelligent woman who thinks before she leaps.

Matt Smith's Doctor has a new burst of energy. He has always been brilliant and is wonderfully strange and alien when he licks the leaf from Clara's journal and also very funny when he tries to take a bite out of a cake in the cafe which he hasn't paid for yet. He is also pulls quite creepy expressions as the Spoonhead disguised as the Doctor. Praise also has to go towards the new costume, with the new purple tweed coat looking so fantastic. I'm never sure about the Doctor having retro clothing, but this costume looks perfect. I hope that the Eleventh Doctor and Clara stay together for a while. Not since the Tenth Doctor and Donna have I been convinced of a Doctor and companion team.

Doctor Who is a show that has always been brilliant at mixing the fantastic with the mundane and The Bells of St John continues this trend with the crazy idea of an alien presence, the Great Intelligence, living in the Wi-Fi.  In The Web of Fear, the Intelligence tried to absorb the Doctor's mind. Now it is uploading many more minds in order to absorb them as part of its consciousness. After being slightly disappointed at the use of Richard E Grant in the The Snowmen, it is good to know that we will be seeing more of him in the upcoming episodes. I can't wait for the inevitable rematch with the Doctor.

The intermediary villain, Miss Kizlet, was well played by Celia Imrie. She displays dark sense of humour when ordering the death of an underling and chatting with the Doctor. Her best moment is when the Intelligence leaves her, causing her regress to a state of childhood. It is a scene that Imrie plays well.

The least effective enemies were the Spoonheads, the walking base stations for the Intelligence. Their best moment comes when they are in disguise and are creepy when they twist their heads to reveal a blank metallic cavity at the back of the head.  On the other hand, they don't demonstrate much offensive capability.  Once a Spoonhead has uploaded Clara's mind, it makes no attempt to stop the Doctor when he starts reversing the download. Their only other function in the episode is to provide a climax, when the Doctor cleverly uses one of them to trick Miss Kizlet. I somehow don't think these will be remembered as the best Who monsters of all time.

New director Colm McCarthy makes this whole episode feel like a celebration of modern London, getting lots of good shots of the Doctor and his new companion, Clara, riding around London locations and landmarks, such as the South Bank Westminster bridge, and the Shard. He also includes a brilliant sequence where Clara walks from the street, into the Tardis and out into a plane continuously.

Murray Gold also seems to have a new wave of energy. The music for the Doctor and Clara riding the motorcycle was new and unusual. His theme for Clara is pretty good as well.

The plot may be simple, but Steven Moffat has left several unanswered questions  How did Clara end up existing in different time periods and what is the significance of the leaf in her journal? There is also the question of identity of the shop girl who gave Clara the phone number for the Tardis. There are several possible suspects, and certain casting information for the 50th anniversary special has generated some interesting theories.

On its own merits, The Bells of St John will never stand out as a classic, but it is still a pretty good episode and makes the rest of the series look very promising. All in all it's a good  start for Doctor Who's 50th anniversary year.

9/10