Gavin WintersCold War: a nicely claustrophobic setting, with some very ‘Alien’ or ‘Thing’ type scenes of the unsuited creature scuttling about and grabbing people from the ceiling… but to be honest the Ice Warriors have never had a really outstanding episode, have they? #DoctorWho
The updated version of the costume is very good - not messing about with the basic shape, which is always the way to go, but just making it look more solid and “real”. #DoctorWho
I don’t know why you’d get an actor of David Warner’s calibre and put him in such a thankless role where he’s just obsessed with early 80s New Romantic bands. 🤷🏻♂️ #DoctorWho
Gatiss updates and fine tunes Ice Warrior lore, with their exterior being a cybernetic suit. It’d never been clear before how much of what we saw of them was armour or skin.
It’s a bit ‘Hmmm’ though when we finally see their real face. They look better in the helmets. #DoctorWho
Hide: this is probably #DoctorWho’s best ever attempt at doing a proper haunted house story. In fact the ‘ghost’ bits in the first half are so well done it’s almost a shame when the inevitable required SF explanation starts to kick in.
The TARDIS shows what excellent taste she has in companions by taking a dislike to Clara and trying to lock her out. 😄 #DoctorWho
Matt Smith mispronounces ’Metebelis’. Heresy! De-canonise him from #DoctorWho, etc…
The final bit feels a little unnecessary, with the tacked-on ‘love story’ between the two creatures and the one final hop to the other dimension. It would’ve worked perfectly well ending a few minutes earlier. #DoctorWho
Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS: I was never overly fond of this one, but to my surprise I enjoyed it a lot more on this rewatch. The plot is still pretty thin, but the exploration of some of the stranger corners of the TARDIS is interesting. #DoctorWho
At last the new series gives us an extensive look at parts of the TARDIS often mentioned but rarely seen, like the enormous library. As well as some visually striking new bits like the ‘tree’ with the glowing orbs. Nice callback to the TVM too, with the Eye Of Harmony. #DoctorWho
The concept of the jars of liquid that are really burbling, whispering Gallifreyan “books” is very Harry Potter.
Not keen on Clara just randomly reading the Doctor’s real name in the book about the Time War though. #DoctorWho
The subplot of the two brothers playing a ‘joke’ on the third one of making him think he’s an android is just nuts. What sort of a prank is that?? And when time is reset at the end will he now ever find out the truth? #DoctorWho
The Doctor popping in and telling his past self to push the button to sort everything out is basically just a rehash of the conclusion to the ‘Space’ and ‘Time’ minisodes, isn’t it? #DoctorWho
The Crimson Horror: this is a fun little highlight of season 7b. Gatiss’ episodes might never be considered the very best of #DoctorWho, but they’re hardly the worst either. And it’s refreshing to get a bit of humour here after a run of grimmer stories.
I love the mortician guy who keeps saying the episode title with relish: “Thuh Crimmzun ‘Orror!” #DoctorWho
Strax also gets some of the best lines:”I’m going outside to play with my grenades!”
Was Moffat planning some kind of Paternoster gang spin-off? As this seems almost like a back door pilot for the first half. #DoctorWho
Diana Rigg is deliciously evil and having a ball as Mrs Gillyflower. An actual, proper, gloating villain! Who’s… doing evil shit just for the hell of it. A rare treat in this era. #DoctorWho
Nightmare In Silver: also known as ‘the other one Neil Gaiman did that wasn’t as good as The Doctor’s Wife’. The elements just didn’t gel together as well on this, did they? Rewrites and production problems apparently. Plus the addition of the two kids doesn’t help. #DoctorWho
The presence of the kids leads to one of the stupidest moments ever in #DoctorWho - Angie, being carried off by a Cyberman, when she should be screaming in mortal terror, turns into Harry Enfield’s ‘Kevin the teenager’ and comes out with a bored-sounding “I hate you!”. FFS. 🙄
Still, it was nice of Moffat to give teenage Chris Chibnall from 1986 a small role. #DoctorWho
The problem with giving the Cybermen all these new superpowers (running as fast as the Flash and having detachable body parts and so on) is that they couldn’t keep that up in all subsequent appearances as they’d be impossible to defeat. And so of course they didn’t. #DoctorWho
The implication that Porridge, as Emperor, was the one forced to destroy an entire galaxy to defeat the Cyberman foreshadows Day Of The Doctor. Though with that story in mind, it’s strange the Doctor seems so eager for him to do it again and blow up the planet here. #DoctorWho
The Name Of The Doctor: not the best finale, but the buildup to the 50th starts here, with that completely unexpected opening. I can forgive the slightly shonky FX work necessary to splice in the old footage.
And seeing this moment elicited quite a gasp… #DoctorWho
And seeing this moment elicited quite a gasp… #DoctorWho
Plus I want to know what that missing adventure was that had the second and the eighth Doctors running around Miami (or wherever it was) together. #DoctorWho
Is it just me or is so much of season 7b perpetually dark and gloomy with blue lighting? Switch the lights on Moff! #DoctorWho
The Whispermen are another great creation that could’ve potentially returned. I like the jumpscare when one of them bursts through the phantom of River.
Another creepy nursery rhyme though. The whole universe seems to have been constantly singing about Eleven’s fate. #DoctorWho
I enjoy the buildup to Clara’s leap into the Doctor’s timeline, but the implication of it, how she’s then saved him in every previous adventure, is a bit much.
It’s the start of Moffat trying to make us see her as the most important person in the entire history of #DoctorWho…🙄
Bloody hell though. #DoctorWho
Day Of The Doctor: right, here we go. The big one. 🙂
Ten years on, this still holds up as a fantastic achievement by Moffat. Season 7 was a bit iffy, so there was some slight trepidation heading into the 50th, but fair play, he pulled it off spectacularly. #DoctorWho
God, John Hurt was brilliant, wasn’t he? At both the comedy of taking the piss out of the others and the melancholy, world-weary material.
I’m a sucker for stories of redemption arcs, historical wrongs being righted etc. so the War Doctor’s story is right up my alley. #DoctorWho
To be perfectly honest, Tennant is *slightly* surplus to requirements. You could write a version of this with just 11 and War representing the Doctor from the Time War and where he is now. Ten is there because, hey, it’s an anniversary, so let’s get more Doctors in. #DoctorWho
More than once this reminds me of Back To The Future (which gets a namecheck) as that script is famously tightly-plotted with every part, every line, linking to or setting something up for later.
Kate’s plan to nuke London to save the Earth of course mirrors the War Doctor’s use of The Moment, and scanning the door with the sonic sets up the resolution of the whole story. #DoctorWho
But also how, in BTTF, after George punches Biff the last fifteen minutes or so are a series of victories, of punch-the-air moments to make the audience cheer. Same here with everything after the Doctors decide *not* to destroy Gallifrey. #DoctorWho
This final shot could probably be done better today, (maybe with actual moving footage of the faces superimposed instead of photos?) but what the hell, well done Moff. 👏
Right Russell, get someone to hold your beer… 😀 #DoctorWho
The Name Of The Doctor: the most continuity-heavy Xmas special ever. Following the high of the 50th was always going to be a struggle, but this also buckles from trying to wrap up everything from 11’s era - the crack, the TARDIS explosion, the Silence, Kovarian, River…#DoctorWho
Moffat would sometimes go down a certain path… then abandon or retcon that plotline when no longer convenient, i.e. the Daleks memories of the Doctor were erased, but since they need to know him for this finale they’ve regained the info from Tasha Lem’s mind. 🤷🏻♂️#DoctorWho
A highlight of this episode is poor old Handles. They manage to wring a lot of emotion and sympathy out of an inanimate Cyber head. #DoctorWho
This really is uncompromising for casual viewers when compared to the usual light-hearted Christmas episodes. The point where the Silence suddenly sprout Dalek eyestalks from their foreheads must have had a lot of people going “Eh? What…?” #DoctorWho
But once all that heavy arc stuff is out of the way the last fifteen minutes or so are fantastic. The aged Doctor, too weak to pull a Christmas cracker… the colossal regeneration… Karen Gillan’s cameo… then BAM! A new face. #DoctorWho
I don’t know why everyone thinks the regeneration happens really fast. The glowing energy, arms out, explodey part happens atop the tower, then he just holds back the actual face change until he gets back to the TARDIS. Technically it’s the longest regeneration! #DoctorWho
Deep Breath: Capaldi gives probably my favourite portrayal of a confused post-regenerative Doctor, with an extremely alien take on his thought processes - “The other one. The not-me one, the asking questions one!” And thinking everyone’s suddenly gone English. 😁 #DoctorWho
The Victorian Londoners must have forgotten all about the dinosaur in the Thames, same as the CyberKing. #DoctorWho
At this point Twelve’s abrasiveness is not too extreme, and can be forgiven as the normal intense behaviour by a Doctor just after regenerating. #DoctorWho
There’s some obvious padding to fill this out to movie length, noticeably Strax’s medical exam of Clara, albeit still very funny.
And the battle at the end between the Paternoster gang and the clockwork droids seems to go on a bit too long. #DoctorWho
SomersetWhovian 🇺🇦💙@gavinwinters Love Missy ❤️
Into The Dalek: the harsher edges of the Twelfth Doctor start to get more defined now, with his utterly callous disregard for the people who die along the way.
I don’t know why anyone ever thinks this is a good idea. It didn’t work with Colin and it doesn’t work here. #DoctorWho
You can sort of imagine how Matt Smith would have played some of these lines. The “Get it right!” to Journey Blue would’ve been softer, more encouraging.
Instead she practically gets Malcolm Tucker yelling “GET IT FUCKING RIGHT!” at her. 😕 #DoctorWho
By now it’s been two years (two!) since Clara first appeared (at least, the version in Asylum Of The Daleks) and only now, with the Impossible Girl stuff done, are they trying to flesh her out with a life and a new job and a relationship. Too little, too late. #DoctorWho
I hope the Coal Hill School Secretary in 1963 acted the same as the one we see here:
“I’m looking for the address of one of my pupils, Susan Foreman.”
“Ooh, I bet you are!”
I don’t know why Clara is not sure whether he’s “a good man” after everything they’ve been through together.
And where has this hatred of soldiers come from all of a sudden? Poor old Brigadier. #DoctorWho
Robot Of Sherwood: this is more like it, a silly but fun episode. Nothing remarkable, but you can rely on Gatiss to give us a straight down the line regular adventure, with a Doctorish Doctor and Clara actually seeming like a normal human companion. #DoctorWho
And this episode shows exactly how to have a grumpy, irritable Doctor without alienating the viewers - just have someone else give as good as they get. The oneupmanship between him and Robin, especially in the dungeons, give us some of the funniest scenes in ages.
Too often the Twelfth Doctor, and the Sixth before him, just acts like a dick without any consequences or comeback. #DoctorWho
Ben Miller is bloody brilliant as the Sheriff of Nottingham. And you can’t help but be reminded of Anthony Ainley. #DoctorWho
I like the final exchange between the Doctor and Robin about their mutual status as inspirational legends: “Remember Doctor, I’m just as real as you.” #DoctorWho
Listen: a classic Moffat timey-wimey, non-linear, bootstrap paradox type of story, where he also gets to exercise his sitcom writing skills with the awkward date between Danny and Clara. One of the best of season 8. #DoctorWho
But it’s also got a bit of an unusual feel for a Moffat tale, as if he’d set himself a challenge to write the strongest episode he could without it being a finale or having any colossal world-ending alien threat. It’s a quieter character piece. #DoctorWho
Orson Pink is another unfortunate example of a plot thread unceremoniously retconned by later developments, as he can’t be Danny and Clara’s descendant given what happens in the finale. According to Moffat, he could be from “another branch of Danny’s family.” Hmm… 🫤 #DoctorWho
I love the trip back to the young first Doctor in the barn, but I’m less fond of the fact it’s bloody Clara again being shoehorned into every conceivable part of the Doctor’s history. Isn’t he allowed to have done anything without her being involved? #DoctorWho
Laserdisc Turtle (Ewan)@gavinwinters I genuinely cheered at that moment!