Gavin WintersThe Skovox Blitzer really is hilariously crap, isn’t it? Why is it always the aliens, robots, etc, that are described as ‘THE DEADLIEST IN THE UNIVERSE!’ that look so rubbish? They must just have good PR people. You never see the Daleks needing to boast like that… #DoctorWho
Kill The Moon: this is peak ‘Twelfth Doctor being an unfeeling dickhead’ with the way he abandons Clara and the others mid-episode with ”Nothing to do with me!”. She’s quite justified in giving him a proper bollocking at the end. #DoctorWho
Oh god, Clara brings another kid along for a ride in the TARDIS. Grossly irresponsible for either a nanny or a teacher! Courtney can be annoying but at least she has a bit more of a personality than the previous two. #DoctorWho
Unlike many fans I don’t have an issue with the basic concept of “The moon’s an egg!”, but the wonky physics of the creature that hatches then laying a new egg… exactly the same size as the one it just came from… that’s really pushing it. #DoctorWho
Who’s daft decision was it to have them land back on a beach near the end… where you can clearly see the waves still coming in during the sequence where the moon has supposedly just disintegrated…? 🤔 #DoctorWho
I might be ambivalent about Clara but Jenna is a bloody good actress. Her argument with the Doctor is one of the best pieces of acting by any companion to date.
Not sure if that scene is really right for #DoctorWho though. They’re kind of forgetting to be kid-friendly again.
Mummy On The Orient Express: apparently at this point in the filming Capaldi had seen the finished versions of his first episodes, and between them he and Moffat decided to soften his portrayal a bit. So thankfully he’s not such an arse from this point on! #DoctorWho
“Only Mummies with eeeevil in their hearts go to Maiden’s Point!” #DoctorWho
The Mummy itself is a great design, worthy of a feature film. The ‘mummiest mummy’ you’ve ever seen.
Though once again it’s an example of “malfunctioning tech” being responsible for the problem, even directly referred to as such in the dialogue. #DoctorWho
Frank Skinner is brilliant as Perkins, and would have been a welcome additional companion if he’d taken the Doctor up on his offer. #DoctorWho
Flatline: another decent one from Jamie Matheson. This has a strong original concept and villains, with some nice visuals of the flattened people, and a clever resolution at the end. #DoctorWho
Clara taking over the role of the Doctor grates slightly in a way it probably wouldn’t with any other companion. It feels like another example of Moffat trying to elevate her status to ‘most important character ever’. #DoctorWho
When Clara places the tiny TARDIS on a mantelpiece for Riggsy to see the Doctor inside, you’d think someone’s first assumption there would be that they’re looking through a hole in the wall to the room next door. #DoctorWho
You can’t help but smile at the bizarre sight of the Doctor doing Thing from The Addams Family to drag the tiny TARDIS along. #DoctorWho
The only slightly naff bit is the Doctor’s big speech at the end concluding with “I name you… The Boneless!” which is a bit over the top. #DoctorWho
In The Forest Of The Night: I’ve never been that keen on this one but I was surprised to find it a lot more tolerable this time round. It kind of has a strange fairytale quality to it that would probably make it fit in more with the early Matt Smith episodes. #DoctorWho
I think that after the moon being a giant space dragon’s egg, to then have a sentient race of trees protecting the earth was probably pushing the audience’s tolerance for out-there, wacky ideas in #DoctorWho
I suppose you could link these trees into wider #DoctorWho continuity by assuming they’re related to the ones from The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe. Or maybe they’re the ancestors of Jabe’s species.
Yeesh, that ending though… when the missing girl comes home (brought by the trees??)
“Annabel! My Annabel!”
Dark Water / Death In Heaven: on one level this is one of the most imaginative finales by Moffat, with a movie-level scale and an excellent directorial debut from Rachel Talalay, but it’s still a bit cold and bleak, once again forgetting to have family-friendly appeal. #DoctorWho
In particular the storyline about the dead screaming not to be cremated because they can feel it has come in for a lot of criticism as being potentially a bit too adult. It doesn’t bother me, but I can see how it would be an issue for some. #DoctorWho
Missy is properly introduced at last. Love the “Master” reveal. She’s arguably never been more utterly unhinged than she is here, and Michelle Gomez’s expressive face brings so much to the character.
Poor Osgood though. (I choose to believe that was the Zygon) #DoctorWho
Ugh. Clara rattling off lots of facts and trivia about the Doctor to the Cybermen sets my teeth on edge. Moffat overloading her with knowledge and importance again. It’s like seeing a #DoctorWho fan inside the Doctor’s universe. At least Osgood has an excuse as it’s her job.
The Cybermen crawling all over the outside of the plane is a great sequence, as is the Doctor skydiving into the TARDIS.
Cyber-Brig though… Hmmm… Not exactly what you’d have wanted to see as the ultimate appearance of that character. 🫤 #DoctorWho
Season 8’s gone up a bit in my estimation after this rewatch, even if it’s still hampered by the decision to make Capaldi’s Doctor such a dick early on, which was as stupid as having Colin strangling Peri in terms of turning the audience off. #DoctorWho
Last Christmas: sort of ‘Inception meets Aliens’ with added Santa Claus. A fun little Christmas special, and one that shows another noticeable improvement in the characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor. #DoctorWho
Plus the actual mention of Alien, the film, implies that John Hurt exists in the #DoctorWho universe… 🤔
The clash of egos between the Doctor and Nick Frost’s Santa, like with Robin Hood, is very funny. Especially when the Doctor can’t exactly rubbish Santa’s claim of having a vehicle that’s bigger on the inside… #DoctorWho
Shona is one of the most instantly appealing side-characters ever, and was set to be the new companion. Can’t believe we missed out on that for another year of Clara… 🙄
(And I refuse to believe the Doctor wasn’t thinking about her when he regenerated into 13…) #DoctorWho
The ending with elderly Clara would have been a fine send-off (mirroring the Xmas cracker from 11’s finale is a nice touch), but that last-minute rug pull where it’s revealed there’s yet *another* layer to the dream comes across as the awkward rewrite it actually is. #DoctorWho
The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar: this goes to great lengths to be a sequel to Genesis Of The Daleks, picking up on the moral question of “Could you kill a child that grows up to be a dictator?” and running with it. #DoctorWho
I like the recreation of the battlefield from Skaro’s thousand year war, with its strange mixture of different levels of technology.
The handmines are great, but it’s a pity we only get a mention of the murderous clams, without seeing them in action. 😁 #DoctorWho
The pre-titles “shock” reveal of the boy’s name as Davros might have been slightly too fannish for some casual viewers, especially when you think that at that stage the character hadn’t been on screen for seven years. #DoctorWho
Moffat again uses his familiar idea of “the hero faces his last day before dying”, except here it’s a bit muddled and unclear. The Doctor’s only going to “die” in the same sense as the War Doctor giving up the name Doctor, in shame at his actions towards young Davros. #DoctorWho
We finally see the Dalek City of our imaginations on screen, looking like something straight from the pages of TV Comic.
On the downside, the Special Weapons Dalek makes another cameo without firing his big fuck-off gun. Come on! Let me see that in the modern show! #DoctorWho
Under The Lake / Before The Flood: I quite like the whole time loop bootstrap paradox element of the story, especially as it gets more into it in part two, but otherwise this is a fairly underwhelming base-under-siege tale. Nothing particularly exciting about it. #DoctorWho
Pritchard is your standard slimy corporate guy, a third-rate knock-off of Burke from Aliens. And would there really still be petroleum companies looking to drill for oil in a hundred years time? Bit depressing if so! #DoctorWho
If the ghosts can only harm people by picking up objects and swinging them about you’d think they wouldn’t be that difficult to fight/disarm/get away from. #DoctorWho
People say the Doctor’s explanation of the bootstrap paradox via the Beethoven story is an example of him breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience, but I always assumed that, in-universe, he’s talking to the two crewmembers who are currently on the TARDIS.🤷🏻♂️#DoctorWho
The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived: is this a two-parter? It’s one of those ones that sort of blurs the definition. Anyway, it’s a good exploration of the effects of immortality on a human. (Plus the second part benefits enormously from no Clara 😆) #DoctorWho
The Mire are yet another “deadliest in the galaxy” race. It never works when you just declare that without any previous sight of them, does it?
And would any kids watching know the Benny Hill theme? It’s an odd reference even for someone of Clara’s age. #DoctorWho
Lol at the Doctor’s names for the villagers - ZZ Top, Noggin the Nog…
And the aftermath of his first attempt to train them as fighters reminds me of this…
The flashback to Fires Of Pompeii is nice and all, but did we really need an explanation of why Twelve looks like Caecillius?
Okay, now explain why he looks like the guy in Torchwood who shot himself and his family… #DoctorWho
Neil Corry@gavinwinters It might explain while the twelfth doctor is a bit grumpy.
“The Shadow” highwayman in Blackadder the Third *must* have been an influence on the scenes of Ashildr being “the Knightmare”, surely? They even do the exact same thing with the voice.
Blackadder Meets The Shadow | Blackadder The Third | BBC Comedy Greats
The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion: I like the scope and the style of the UNIT stories of this era, though doing a story that’s a metaphor for immigrants in which they’re literally alien invaders trying to replace the native population is… a brave choice. #DoctorWho
Lots of callbacks to Day Of The Doctor and plenty of familiar Moffat tropes - repeated memory wipes, a character getting trapped in a virtual dreamworld, mysterious and powerful boxes… #DoctorWho
This is the point where Capaldi saying “Like… a hybrid” starts to become funny through repetition. #DoctorWho
The Doctor intently watching, and then chasing, a couple of young kids through a playground is another unfortunately dodgy image! #DoctorWho
Kate’s getting as bad as Rory for the fakeout deaths. And of all the mentions of the Brig whenever she turns up, getting her to say the “Five rounds rapid!” line was the most gratuitous. #DoctorWho
Jenna plays a very good villain in Bonnie. And, whatever you think of the simplistic politics, you can’t deny Capaldi is acting his arse off during the big impassioned speech. It’s deservedly considered a highlight of his time in the role. #DoctorWho
Sleep No More: I can appreciate what they were aiming for with this one, trying something a bit different for #DoctorWho with the whole ‘found footage’ genre, but it just doesn’t really work. Plus the monsters are a bit rubbish.
So much of this is dark and murky and just running around the same dull corridors. And the fact it’s shaky handheld camera footage, with added technical glitches, makes it visually very unappealing to watch. Fine to do that for a short sequence, but a whole 45 minutes? #DoctorWho
The idea the crew previously got drunk and reprogrammed the automatic doors so they only open when a specific song is sung is basically the same as what happened in 42. There really should be strict regulations in the future against crews doing that sort of thing! #DoctorWho
Every time I look at Rasmussen I think “What’s he doing here instead of being on Babylon 5?” #DoctorWho
GeekFTW (He/Him)@gavinwinters ...shit, not gonna unsee that any year soon lmao
Unfortunately it’s a struggle to stay focussed on the plot in this one. And ironically, given the title, I don’t think I’ve ever yawned as much when watching an episode of #DoctorWho!
Face The Raven: this takes a bit of time to get to the point (all that faffing about looking at maps and searching the streets) but gets a lot more interesting once we eventually get to Trap Street. #DoctorWho
What a daft decision by Clara to take the chrono-lock from Riggsy. And all the legal technicalities about who made a pact with whom and who can remove it, etc, are all a bit contrived just to get us to the point where she’s inevitably going to die. #DoctorWho
I know she wasn’t that famous at the time, but Letitia Wright seems a bit wasted in this minor role. And she’s reduced to basically a non-speaking background extra for most of the final act. #DoctorWho
Anyway, it’s all just a prelude to that knockout ending, with phenomenal performances from both Capaldi and Coleman. The Doctor really does seem like a terrifying force of nature when he tells Ashildr “You’ll find it’s a very small universe when I’m angry with you…” #DoctorWho
Jan@gavinwinters Yeah, of all the possiblities for Clara to exit, they really went with the most contrived one. Episode itself is alright though, imho.
✨🏳️⚧️Timelordiroh 
🇵🇸@gavinwinters While I enjoyed that connection, I agree it wasn't really needed. There was enough time betwen the eras that I think it could have been ignored, but again, i think it was a nice detail.
As far as ignoring Torchwood? I think we should always do that. Joking aside, I think there's enough of an argument to say that Torchwood was too violent/not family appropriate to bring into doctor who without being cleaned up like they were in Journey's end.
@gavinwinters i have seen a fan theory though that the Torchwood PCap was a descendent of Fires of Pompei Pcap and had to die as some sort of penance for FoP PCap's survival. Take it for what it's worth, probably started on Gallifrey Base.
Though, I am now really wanting a PCap Cinematic Universe. Even in Doctor Who, we've got a great start.
@gavinwinters The ZZ Top and Noggin the Nog references were lost on me. I knew that ZZ Top was some sort of musical performer, but nothing else (and when people mention him, i always think of that doctor who ep).
The Benny Hill theme had kind of come back as a meme at that point. While I'd never heard of Benny Hill as a tv show, I knew that rhythm, probably from Vine or something of the era. I think Clara could reasonably have known about it
(for context, i'm millenial/gen z american)