Doctor Who: Oxygen

Some good character developments worked into a well-composed love letter to Star Trek.

This episode opens with a parody of the final frontier monologue from what’s probably the most well known sci-fi show in television history.

That might initially come across as mocking, but as the episode progresses you see the Trek fandom at work. The concept of the peak point of capitalism being companies programming equipment to kill workers who’s expensive oxygen consumption isn’t offset by their efficiency is something that anyone who works for a large company can relate to.

Weirdly, whilst this is an obvious reference to the non-capitalist system of the Trek universe (ie the human race works to better itself as a whole and no longer seeks individual gain) Jamie Mathieson actually gets the point across better than Rodenberry ever did. It was always difficult to empathise with Rodenberry’s stance on the issues of capitalism because he started from a point in the story, after the problem had been solved. This is a far more effective critique; the reaction of the workers when they find out that they’re being killed due to their lack of efficiency is to go into denial. Is this so different from someone assuming they’re protected from redundancy or contract termination.

There’s a lot more that could be said about what this episode is trying to get across, but I try to keep these things to a single page, so I’ll leave it there.

The character development is pretty substantial this episode. The Doctor is shown to be willing to maim himself to protect Bill. At one point, he doesn’t even hesitate before suggesting giving his entire space suit to her; an action that would kill him. Given the consistent easter eggs that keep being dropped about Bill’s mother, I’d say there’s a lot more to his behavior towards her.

Most importantly, the episode ends on a problematic yet interesting change. Namely, the Doctor is now blind and will have to rely on his companions to literally be his eyes. This is interesting given the change in dynamic and the fact that he doesn’t want Bill to know. It’s problematic however because the Doctor is a Time Lord. If his full fitness and able-bodiedness are essential to him guarding the vault, why would he not simply regenerate to cure himself. Both Ten and Eleven could use regeneration energy to heal serious injuries and failing that a new body would solve the issue completely.

The story reason is that Capaldi has until the Christmas Special before he leaves, but in continuity it doesn’t really make sense. Hopefully they’ll come up with an excuse for this in the next episode.

But for the moment, this was a good episode that I thoroughly enjoyed.  

Doctor Who: Knock Knock

Attack of the killer mummy’s boy.

That was  a very serviceable episode.  The setting was good, the atmosphere was well set up, the acting was good and the special effects were…well they had a budget.

Aside from the incredibly fake looking alien beetles, this was a definite step up in terms of the thriller sci-fi mystery they’ve been going for this year.

The acting is solid throughout, well from the main cast at least, and the villain is compelling…right up until his motivation is fully revealed and the attempt to make him sympathetic falls flat. Yes, in the end he was just a scared little boy and David Suchet does a great job of showing that at the moment it’s reveled. But there was nothing beforehand to make him in the slightest bit human. Personally, I would have preferred a villain who was just straight up evil.

But personal preference aside, he not a bad villain.

The main failing of the episode still comes at the end. I’ve complained before about the Star Trek trick. Namely, there’s a deus ex machina in place that pops up in the last few minutes.

This episode takes it too far. After establishing that the alien beetles are controlled by sound (hence why they can be summoned by a tuning fork) it’s reveled that the wooden lady upstairs can just control them with her mind. How can she do this? How is she able to suddenly exact complete control over them having never done this before?

No, no answer; just accept that she can…oh and everyone that died is going to be brought back as well…after being eaten…

That takes a freaky and pretty fun premise about the creatures in the walls eating you and guts it. It’s like ‘Kill the Moon’ with the ending revealing that there was never a real threat anyway.

Overall, a serviceable episode that’s let down by it’s ending.

We end on a stinger about the vault. Whatever’s in there is apparently definitely a person, who has now been furnished with a piano. Based on that, I’m going to say that the Doctor’s sacred vow was to prevent Jaimie Callum from releasing another album.

Doctor Who: Thin Ice

That was alright.

This episode isn’t really anything special. It broadly re-uses premise from The beast Below, but flips it so the villain is actually evil instead of desperate.

Despite the claim that Smile would help solidify the Doctor and Bill’s dynamic, this episode does that task quite well.

Bill is shocked by the Doctor’s disregard for death and the casual way in which he moves on after watching someone die. The best part of the resulting exchange is that we as the audience are on the Doctor’s side; we expect to see someone die to show how serious the situation is. Like him, long-term viewers of the show are simply desensitized to it.

The Doctor’s reactions to Bill’s criticisms are also quite refreshing. He’s dismissive in typical Twelve fashion. He doesn’t attempt to avoid the issue or act out in childish way like his predecessors, but instead points out that if Bill doesn’t pull her head out of her own arse and stop being self-righteous, far more people will die. I really hope that we see more of this side of the Doctor’s personality.

There are some definite downsides to this episode. Sarah Dollard seems to favour the moustache-twiddling villain (this being the first time she’s created a villain rather than using an established one). I understand that it’s easier for children who are watching if the villain is obviously evil, but Lord Sutcliffe comes across as cartoonish. He’s taking pleasure in causing pain; as a general rule, villains work best when they either have a warped perspective of reality (like Missy/The Master) or believe that the people they’re harming are an acceptable sacrifice. Sutcliffe has one throw away line about moving the British Empire forwards, but beyond that doesn’t really justify his actions and further than “I’m the bad guy.”

We get the sting at the end, with the contents of vault knocking, seemingly aware that the Doctor isn’t paying them as much attention as he should. This tells us that whatever is in there is able to at least take on humanoid form and is innately aware of the Doctor’s actions. Is it possibly one of the Time Lords’ self-aware weapons (like the Moment) or could it be a future version of the Doctor himself (The Valyard, possibly having adopted one of the Master’s old faces). Who knows? I only hope it won’t be as disappointing as the River Song and Missy reveals.

Doctor Who: Smile

Another solid entry for the ‘Meh’

This was touted as the episode to solidify the new dynamic between the Doctor and Bill.

This new dynamic appears to be that she asks questions then attempts to psychoanalyze him…which exactly the same thing that all the other companions have done.

There’s nothing wrong with it; she has to act as he audience viewpoint for the Doctor so it makes sense. But I don’t know why she was presented as a massive change to the dynamic if she’s just going to act like every other companion.

The villains of the episode are robots that we initially think are suffering from a glitch, but we learn have actually developed sentience and become an emergent species.

The “we have created life and we’re not sure what to do with it” trope was played out back when Star Trek TNG did it and it doesn’t really bring anything new to the story here.

I don’t know if they’re setting up a theme or just being lazy, but once again, the villain is not aware of their own villainy. If this is going to be the go-to explanation for most of the episodes this series, there had better be a pay off at the  end.

There isn’t really mush to say; aside from the foreshadowing of a major cataclysmic event on Earth, this is very much a filler episode.

The cast are all good, the special effects do their job and the story is serviceable.

Doctor Who: The Pilot

So that was pretty good.

Since the Twelfth Doctor took over the main thing holding his run back has been the baggage left over from the Eleventh.

It’s ironic that Capaldi will finally be allowed to have a story arc that’s entirely his own, in his final series.

This opener does what Moffat does best, when he doesn’t have link the previous series into things. It establishes the mystery that will run until the finale (with the difference being that the Doctor already knows the answer to it this time) while running a serviceable stand-alone story and villain.

I say serviceable because the villain is basically the same as the hologram from The Lodger; a left over part of ship trying to find a suitably minded person to pilot it away from Earth. The title of the episode serves as reference to this villain and Moffat’s intention for this series to stand on it’s own.

Capaldi is, as ever, excellent as the Doctor, who seems to be wholly in his element now as University lecturer.

The new companion Bill, who I was quite apprehensive about is actually pretty good. The sequence that was released when she was announced as the companion showed very little chemistry between her and the Doctor. This sequence appears to have been drawn from The Pilot, but then cut out of the final product. I personally suspect there were some re-writes and some harsh editing done after fan and critic response to the Companion teaser.

There are some downsides. Matt Lucas is fantastic comedic actor, but I can see his Nardole getting annoying for the same reason that Donna Noble did. They were both written as one off characters, but then turned out popular. The fact that fans like them doesn’t really change the fact that their personalities weren’t written with longevity in mind. I can see myself really disliking this character within a few episodes.

Overall, though, the story of this episode is pretty good, the villain is serviceable and at least of the companions works well.

Teaser:

Next week, the Doctor will blow something up….err great.