Review: Doctor Who - The Name Of The Doctor

Let’s talk about the DOCTOR WHO Series 7 finale shall we?

No, I’ve not been reviewing anything from the strangely titled Series 7b (THE BELLS OF ST. JOHN to NIGHTMARE IN SILVER), and that’s really (sadly) come down to an enjoyment level. When I used to watch RTD’s DW I was EXCITED to post about it, to talk about it with friends, and gush over what I liked. When Moffat took over in Series 5, I was excited-ish throughout (nothing reaching the levels of my RTD-era love, but excited enough)…My feelings on the entirety of Series 6 are pretty well known (Read: I loathed it more than any whole series since DW came back in 2005). Series 7 has been “meh”. The only truly standout eps for me were Neil Cross’ HIDE, and the Xmas special THE SNOWMEN…everything else could be easily swept under my WHO-rug and forgotten about. It should, therefore, speak volumes that the ONLY thing that’s been able to rouse me out of my review-malaise concerning this show is to pontificate on what I felt was a relatively disjointed and ultimately pointless Finale for Series 7.

THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR, written by showrunner Steven Moffat (a man whom Chris and I used to look upon with wonder for his TV writing), is not a mess persay (at least not like 2011’s A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR), but it’s a straightforward thought essay on the Doctor.

Again.

For the 3rd Series finale in a row.

History Check: Series 5 – The Doctor must solve the mystery of the Pandorica (a box designed by his enemies to keep him from his future), and stop the TARDIS from exploding in the future.

Series 6: The Doctor has gotten to big for his britches, and his very “name” has caused an entire religion to be crafted around capturing him, and killing him…to keep him from his future. This time we get the mention of that future in Trenzalore, where the question cannot be asked “Doctor Who?”

Series 7: We go to Trenzalore, and proceed to go through 45-odd minutes of that journey and what happens there.

The issue? That for the third series running the show isn’t about the Doctor saving a planet, or people, or the universe…it’s instead all about the Doctor. Hell, it’s not even really about his companions.

This inward looking Doctor Who is about as far from the original series and mythos as it gets…but it’s also about as far from the storytelling that RTD gave us that you could get.

So we go to Trezalore. Does the “name” of the Doctor get said? Yep. But like all Moffat’s “This will happen, and it will change the Doctor forever!” proclamations…it’s all bullshit, a fake out. The name gets said, by River Song, off-screen. And there is no clever story (as was eluded by David Tennant in the Library when he said to River “there was only one time he COULD tell someone his name”) associated with her knowing of it. She literally found out “Because she badgered him about it”.

You get that? She badgered him about it. A Time Lord…scratch that, the Runaway Time Lord who for over a thousand years has kept the secret of what his name really is…gave in because his (briefly) wife badgered him about it.

Wow. Just wow.

And that’s just for starters.

So, “name” thing aside what happens on Trenzalore? Well, it’s a battlefield. “Sweet!” you say “Tell me more!” Err…well nope. It’s an old battlefield, and is “supposedly” where the Doctor died. His tomb is his TARDIS which is “leaking” it’s bigger onto the outside. So his tomb is a giant TARDIS. Cool. What’s inside? Well this kind of Swirly Light Tree thingie…and it’s basically the remnants of the Time Lord…a map of his life through time leftover as some kind of echo (I guess?).

Enter our villain. The Great Intelligence (a creature from another universe trying to get into ours VIA proxies) in the form of THE SNOWMEN’s Doctor Simeon and his Whispermen (beings that ominously whisper, and who’s powers are the ability to become incorporeal enough to squeeze your heart so you die) has shown up at the Doctor’s Tomb, and wish entrance, and after threatening the Doctor by saying he’ll kill his friends if he doesn’t speak his name and open the door to his tomb. River helps him avoid this, and everyone trundles inside where they find the light tree thingie. Then the villain does the DW Villain equivalent of a filibuster and tells everyone there his plan is to go into the Doctor’s Light Tree and screw up his every success throughout his timeline and thus undo all he has done. This would be really interesting if he had:

A) Not SPELLED OUT his plan to his enemies in the room, like a hackneyed Bond villain.

B) Found some way to close the Doctor’s Light Tree timeline map thingie after he goes into it so no one follows him…because…

C) …seconds after he goes into it, Clara decides to sacrifice herself and follow him in to “correct” all that he screws up. Negating his entire (stupid) plan in seconds.

I’m serious. The Great Intelligence, a villain whom the Second Doctor fought, and who has been tipped as the “big bad” since the Christmas episode and has been pretty much behind all the stuff that’s occurred since then…the creature that you want to see a showdown with…spells out his plan and has it foiled in less time than it would take a Dalek to say “exterminate”. The Whispermen (his lackeys on this plane) had more teeth than he did.

Okay, now let’s leave aside the silly and toothless villain. Let’s deal with Clara’s reveal. It turns out that because she chases The G.I. into the Light Tree she essentially “dies” and “scatters herself” across the Doctor’s Timeline, which is why he keeps meeting her and why she keeps dying and seemingly is resurrected in different times and places. Cool. I can totally buy that, and it’s MUCH less messy than any other Moffat-ism “timey-wimey” thing he’s chucked at us in recent seasons. If it weren’t for the idiocy of the villains it would be a very elegant solution to the “impossible girl” that actually echoes Rose and Bad Wolf.

“So what’s the problem then?” you ask.

Well, it’s in the emotional resonance of her sacrifice. She literally says she will die to save the Doctor from this fate. River actually tells her that she will cease to exist and what is left will be scattered pieces across time saving the Doctor…that the person she is, will no longer be.

Okay great. Gotcha. Poignant, and even though I’m not as emotionally invested in her as I was Rose and Donna, I’m quite fine with that. But the Doctor almost immediately goes into his own timeline (paradox much? But nevermind) to rescue her. He actually breaks the rules of the show…rules which (for example) disallowed two Amy’s, one younger and one older, into the TARDIS at the same time…an arguably WAY lesser paradox than crossing your OWN timeline…to save the girl who just had an emotional scene “rescuing” him. So we decide to steal ANY emotion I had for the scene by reversing it almost right away. That such things are happening on DOCTOR WHO is baffling.

I mean how do you even associate this Moffat-written moment with stuff like “Everybody Lives” from THE DOCTOR DANCES, or Sally Sparrow saying goodbye to a dying old man who moments before was young and hitting on her at the end of BLINK, or even the tear-jerking letter that Madame De Pompador left for Ten in THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE? How? The answer is that you can’t. They don’t even exist in the same universe.

Refer to my old post: Steven Moffat CAN be a brilliant writer…when someone else is in control…but when he’s in control of the show as a whole his writing becomes something unrecognizable.

Lastly we have to talk about John Hurt.

So at the tail end of the ep, when The Doctor goes into his own timeline to rescue Clara from her rescue (don’t get me started on why this doesn’t UN-DO her rescue…) and there are various incarnation of the Doctor walking by her…we see the back of an unrecognizable man staring out into the rain…and he is revealed (quite brashly in text on screen…cause apparently we are all dumb and need it spelled out?) as “The Doctor”…and Eleven says that he’s not really allowed to have that name cause of “what he did.” And Hurt’s version says “I only did what I had to do” Speculate as you will. I’m cool with Hurt playing some lost or evil version of the Doctor’s past (even if it renumbers the Doctors) if only because I’m sure whatever it is, won’t stick. Whatever happens with the character in the 50th Anniversary will be timey-wimey’d out of existence, and things will settle back to the status quo. As far as the reveal is concerned, I like that he was in it, to link the finale up with the 50th…but I REALLY could have done without the big, bolded text on screen. It’s almost like Moffat and Co. were like “See, look what we did! Ain’t we tricksy? What’s going on?! You must watch to find out!”…when in my mind, just having Hurt turn around and deliver his line ominously with no reveal about “what/who” exactly he is and running the credits would have been MUCH better as a cliffhanger-y moment. It’s typical of Moffat’s “tell don’t show” approach to WHO…which is the opposite of good storytelling.

Think David Tennant in years past finale epilogues.

Bride in TARDIS: “What? Whot?! WHAT?!”

The hull of the TITANIC: “What? Whot?! WHAT?!”

…it was always some visual cue, and that’s it. Imagine if RTD had put text on the screen saying “There is a BRIDE in the TARDIS?! What the?!” or “The Hull of the TITANIC? What has the Doctor gotten himself into?!”

But no, instead we get the equivalent of Moffat telling us that our attention spans are SO short that he feels the need to type out on the screen what we are seeing.

Did I like the episode in the end? Yeah, the opening nods to past Doctor’s and the like was fun, if short. The Clara reveal appeased me…if making me realize that for whatever reason Moffat needs to make his companions always be a “mystery” for the Doctor to solve…instead of just letting them be…you know, people. How can Clara grow organically as a character if all we (and the Doctor) are doing is trying to “figure her out” from ep to ep. Sad really. I miss Donna…the temp from Chiswick, and Wilf, her dreamer, stargazing grandpa. Seriously.

I liked it, and it’s SCADS better than last years ridiculous finale…but it’s not remotely close to Series 5 THE PANDORICA OPENS / THE BIG BANG, and isn’t even in the same ballpark as RTD-era finale’s like DOOMSDAY or THE LAST OF THE TIMELORDS.

Lacking doesn’t cover it, and I’m more inclined to talk about what didn’t work for me, if only because what DID work for me in the episode is very little.

And that all makes me sad.

Doctor Who: Series 7, Episode 5, The Angels Take Manhattan

After watching the mid-series finale of DOCTOR WHO (THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN) I find myself wanting to be congratulatory and kind to Steven Moffat’s written swan song for the Ponds, but I’m just too conflicted. So I’m going to lay out what I liked and what I didn’t like and why, and hopefully you can make up your own minds.

The story on the outside is pretty simple. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory visit New York City, and while sitting in Central Park and Rory goes off to get some drinks, the Doctor discovers that Amy is reading a pulpy detective novel that all of the sudden features Rory in the 1930’s and River Song. The novel ends up being a kind of future history of the events that will follow and the Doctor quickly scolds Amy for reading ahead as she’s technically creating “fixed” points in time by doing so. He tells her not to read ahead...but chapter titles might be okay. It’s not long before they sort out that Rory has been touched by the nefarious Weeping Angels and sent back in time. After sorting that out and establishing that going back to save him is too tough because New York of 1938 is so time-addled that they can’t get back there. Luckily River Song is there to establish a homing beacon to follow back to 1938 with the TARDIS. What follows is a progression of events that lead to the heroes finding out that a tenement building called “Winters Quay” is being used as a sort of battery farm for the Weeping Angels to send people back in time from to drink their energy, including the metal (not stone) Statue Of Liberty.

It all SEEMS very cool from the outside but if you dig at all into the narrative the thing falls apart like a house of cards. My immediate issue is what exactly is River Song doing there? It’s never explained, and it seems totally out of nowhere...and worse none of the characters questions her presence! Aside from the Doctor’s teasing “Shouldn’t you be in prison?” no one says boo about why River is there. One might argue that she knew of her parents’ need of her in that time and place, but I’d wonder where she got the info. (NOTE: I've been duly informed by a friend that it's set out that River is studying the Angels and that's why she's summoned there by the collector. I find that beyond convenient, but whatever, I'm willing to concede that point.) Anyways, lets gloss over that her presence makes no sense and move on. So Rory sees older Rory (who was sent back in time) there in a room showing that in this timeline he gets caught and stays in Winters Quay till his eventual death. His way of escape? Jumping from the roof, killing younger Rory, therefore depriving the Angels of their battery source and breaking their hold on the building. How, you ask? Don’t ask. Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. I fail to see how Rory’s escape (one amongst however many folk have been imprisoned there to be sent back in time to create the energy) breaks their hold. But nevermind. Oh and The Statue of Liberty is there, fangs out as an Angel on top of the building. While menacing, two things immediately jump into your head. One: no one in New York in the vicinity sees that Lady Liberty is missing, nor Two: the huge statue standing in the street and menacing the roof of a tenement building? Okay, I’m going to dismiss this as having Liberty as an Angel is endlessly cool. How about the fact that she’s made of metal and not stone (as the Angels are described)? Ssshhhh. Nevermind. There is some offhanded remark about the Angel’s possessing statues...thus kind of changing them from being villains who turn to rock, into some sort of spiritual form that actually possesses statues instead. What? Did Steven Moffat just screw with his own invented creature’s origin? Ugh. Nevermind? So Amy and Rory create their paradox by jumping from the building and this wipes out that whole timeline, freeing Winter’s Quay from the hold of the Angels and they end up back in the graveyard they were in when this started. Again, I’m not sure how Rory’s specific sacrifice removes this whole bit of timeline, but I’m willing to hand wave it because here we go...here is the ending of the Ponds. Here is the (aforementioned) last day of the Doctor and the Ponds. Break out the Kleenex! Even though I have been very vocal about not caring much for the Ponds, I’m still sad to see the Doctor so distraught. So what happens? Ready for spoilers? One Angel is still in the graveyard (convenient that location!) and touches Rory sending him back to an indeterminate moment in time. So Amy freaks out and tells the Doctor to go back and help him, and the Doctor refuses saying that it would rip New York apart to try to do so. Hmmm. So Amy makes a sacrifice and decides to go back as well. The Doctor gets upset and tells her he will never see her again! It’s poignant and sad and I’ll freely admit made me emotional. It’s not emotional because of the Ponds, it’s emotional because of the Doctor. In essence Amy is 11’s Rose. In that vein he wants to do everything to save her, to stay with her and to keep traveling with her. His best friend. On that front it’s absolutely heart-jarringly sad. At least it was, until I thought about it for more than a moment. Wait. So the Doctor can’t go back to her time because it would rip New York apart. Okay, so if the episode is to be believed, it’s the constant time flux in NY causing this fact that he can’t take the TARDIS back there. Add that River says she can freely go back with her stolen (from Jack Harkness) vortex manipulator and it doesn’t cause the same issues that the TARDIS does, thus allowing her to give the book to Amy to publish in the past and create her epilogue for the Doctor to read and you have the makings of a plot hole. Then if you really break it down, then Amy and Rory can simply go outside the city to a different place (Buffalo maybe?) where the Doctor CAN travel to....hell they even have a vortex-manipulated Daughter to bring the message to do so. This is not just a plot hole; it’s a giant, fabulously over sighted writing mistake (paraphrased from another viewer). Let’s not just say that though, let’s look at it logically with historical evidence. Rose Tyler got stuck in an alternate universe. The walls closed and the universe was sealed off from ours otherwise it would rip ours to pieces. Doctor can’t go to her. In fact it’s only a need to create further rips in the universe that he DOES see her again, afterwards re-sealing those gaps to make sure things go tickety boo. Donna Noble, part of a Human /Time Lord metacrisis, she took the Doctor’s mind into her head and became the Doctor Donna, had to have her mind wiped and she would never remember any of the great things she did otherwise her mind would burn and she would die. The Doctor could never visit her otherwise he risks her remembering and subsequently dying. Fast forward, the Doctor can’t visit or save Amy and Rory from the 1930’s New York...and instead of finding a way to visit them or save them VIA another place they could travel to or another time a year or so later....he GIVES UP? Wow. That sucked almost all the emotion out of that scene in the graveyard. It smacks of a weak, weak plot device. Moffat seemingly didn’t know how to write them off the show. It’s the only thing I can come up with. Say what you will about RTD and melodrama, but I can’t believe that Moffat wrote a great and emotional end to the Ponds and totally robs it and the thing falls totally apart under the slightest scrutiny. I’m sad because I’m the guy who dismisses that kind of thing when it comes to DOCTOR WHO. The Sontaran Eps in S4 are pretty rough on common sense and plot holes, but they are scads better than this stuff. I WANT to handwavium the bullshit science and plot holes for story. I want to do that, but in this episode it was just so damn blatant.

Was it a good episode? Yes, indeed. Does it require Kleenex as promised? Yes it does. But afterwards when you begin to actually think about the ending you will most likely get annoyed. Especially in comparison with heartbreakers like Rose’s goodbye in DOOMSDAY and Donna’s goodbye in JOURNEY’S END, Amy and Rory’s goodbye is treated almost like a “we have to do this, so here you go. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s sad enough.” And that felt flat to me. It’s got a number of decent ideas and scenes and has some kickass DOCTOR WHO moments, but it never adds up to a solid whole. Again falling victim to Moffat’s trademark cobbling of a narrative AROUND his own clever plot devices instead of writing a half decent story first and then adding in his plot devices after. I’m actually a little pissed off by how this happened.

Nick Hurran’s direction and Murray Gold’s score ought to be lauded as both were spot on in this ep. Hurran’s direction really does hearken to 1930’s noir in a perfect way and Gold’s score as usual these days, was lovingly rendered and presented throughout. The acting was also quite well done throughout with Matt Smith (the Doctor’s) performance standing out most. Karen Gillan (Amy) brings home a solid performance, while Alex Kingston (River) does a decent enough job, but for me she’s never reached the heights she did in her first appearance in the library eps.

Is it a solid mid-series finale? Yeah, if you can handwavium the absolute MYRIAD of things wrong with the notions in it and add the fact that the Angels don’t come across remotely as frightening as they did in S5 (let alone BLINK)...at least the Cherubs were creepy and did a lot with sound only. You will likely enjoy it. I did. It was only after I thought about it that everything really began to leap out at me. Is it a solid ending for Amy and Rory? No. Not remotely. In fact it’s probably one of the weakest “companion(s) leave” episode in relaunched DW. I’ll add the fact that we spent two eps with Rory’s dad Brian and he gets no info on what happened to them? How about Amy’s parents? Their many friends? There is liiterally NO EPILOGUE explaining anything to anyone. This robs the episode of a further set of emotional beats that I think the audience deserved, especially Brian. Why spend two eps with him if he was only going to be left in the dark? Travesty.

So yeah. That’s where I am with it. I enjoyed it on some level, but more of me is upset at how nonsensical it was, how scatterbrained and how I feel that even the emotional moments end up not really being earned. When Rose left I cried. When Donna left I sobbed like an un-consoled kid. Now when Amy and Rory leave I shed a tear or two when during the graveyard scene and the epilogue scene, but felt utterly robbed afterwards.

This just further illustrates to me how much RTD’s era affected me. He knew characters and interaction. He paid attention to story first and plot after. Moffat’s continued failure in that department leaves us with stuff like this. Serviceable DOCTOR WHO, but it’s a far cry from what it was and what it COULD be.

Doctor Who: Series 7, Episode 4, The Power Of Three (Review)

I'm going to start this week’s review of DOCTOR WHO by listing the things I liked. Why? Because there was a lot I either was so-so on, or outright bothered by, so let’s start with nice stuff.

THE POWER OF THREE (Things I liked)

-The nod to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, in positioning his daughter Kate as the new head of UNIT, was a lovely, lovely touch.

-Amy and the Doctor’s serious and heartfelt chat on the banks of the Thames was poignant and allowed Smith and Gillan to show how they interact best.

-Brian had two solid moments in the episode. One was when he asked the Doctor what happened to his past companions. The second was near the end when he convinced Amy and Rory to accompany the Doctor on another adventure.

THE POWER OF THREE (The rest of my opinion)

I always used to complain that A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR was the biggest scatterbrained, kitchen sink episode in Moffat’s tenure as showrunner. I take that back now. Chris Chibnall (the writer of tonight's ep. Note: he also penned DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP) has successfully stolen that crown. And what’s funnier is that everything happens in this episode at the exact same time as nothing. It’s kind of an aggravating episode to watch actually.

Let’s break it down.

We have the Ponds (acting a little un-Pondish) trying to decide between their real lives and their traveling lives with the Doctor. I don’t like this aspect of the plot as I feel that the Ponds (Amy especially) have used the Doctor for adventure in the past, but when he needs them they start to question whether they want to stop or not to just live human lives? Blah. Rose, Martha, Donna, Jack, Mickey, Sarah Jane, and any of the one offs always expressed interest in “staying with him forever”. Even when their family and friends missed them they didn’t stop. Now I know this is KIND of rectified in the ending of the Ep and Rory’s dad’s speech...but it still felt as if we spent a whole episode watching the Ponds be uncharacteristically selfish.

Rory’s Dad Brian is given the most pointless busy work of any companion’s family yet. He is asked to watch his cube. So he does so for nigh on a year (even videoing the thing when he sleeps and reviewing the tapes)...but the cubes all come to life at once (and only for 47 minutes) so I ask the writer what was the point of having Brian watch it all that time (I’m serious, for 20 minutes we keep flipping back to see Brian watching this thing)? I’ll tell you what the point was, they wanted to have Brian in the episode for other moments, but could not think of anything for him to do in the time while they were away and the world waited the year for the cubes to activate. That’s bad writing IMHO. Luckily, like I said above he is given two bits of dialogue that make his time on the episode worthwhile. But I mean come on, at least RTD had Jackie Tyler DOING stuff if she was on any given ep.

The villains. The cubes VIA alien boogeyman custodians bent on eradicating the human race before they reach the stars, seeing them as a plague. Okay, for one: the Doctor views them as a bedtime story told to keep young Gallifreyans in line, and two: they apparently exist somewhere out of time as well as in all of time too. Right. Good. But the Doctor has already seen humanity reach the stars in NuWho, Examples: THE WATERS OF MARS, the 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire, and any number of classic eps. So why on earth does this worry him at all? Surely if he wasn’t concerned that Amy and Rory’s baby would turn out okay because the evidence (River Song) was right in front of him (S6), then why would he fear these custodial universe police when he knows very well humanity reaches the stars? Oh and where the hell is the Shadow Proclamation or the Judoon in all this? The whole episode is one giant plot hole in the established mythos and canon of the series. And that aggravated me to no end. But let’s ignore that for a second and imagine that part doesn’t bother me. What happens to solve this horrific quelling of humanity Via cardiac arrests? Well a quick wave the Sonic on board the alien ship at the control panel should reverse things nicely. Yep. Wow, that was...easy don’t you think?

It never felt like anyone important was in peril, and UNIT was CRIMINALLY treated. Other than the lovely nod to Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT themselves are given terribly dodgy dialogue, have little to really do, and wear no red berets. At least the winged logo is present (if only visible in one scene). Sadly, when you compare this to the very BEST use of UNIT in NuWho (easily THE PLANET OF THE DEAD with fan favourite Malcolm! How many Bernard’s is that?) or even the moderately dodgy use of them in the Sontaran eps from Martha’s Series...it’s just SO pale in comparison that it stands out a mile. A weak shot at fanboy nostalgia that falls on deaf ears to real supporters of UNIT in DW.

All in all the WEAKEST ep of the Series by far. I found myself bored in the first 20 minutes which was mostly filler and bizarre disconnected exposition scenes, and then I found myself entertained but annoyed by content and execution of the latter half of the ep. So yeah, probably the most scatterbrained and ill-conceived ep of DW this Series. Chibnall seems to always have these great ideas, but I rarely see him with the chops to properly set them out, let alone execute them with any verve or interest. I mean a slow invasion by little black cubes could have been SO cool, and VERY Day Of The Triffids-esque. And instead we get something that is just this side of the Manhattan Daleks episode.

The credit sequence continues to experience crazyness. Again darker, this time with violent purple colours as well and scattered bolts of that crazy lightning breaking into the time vortex...the mystery continues and keeps me intrigued!

Really looking forward to next week’s ep for three reasons.

1. The Weeping Angels in NY!

2. The Ponds FINALLY say farewell (I won’t miss them too much if I am honest)

3. Hopefully a trailer for the Christmas ep with Jenna Louise-Coleman’s full proper intro to DW as companion!

Doctor Who: Series 7 Ep. 2: Dinosaurs On A Spaceship & Ep 3. A Town Called Mercy Reviews

Since I was attending TIFF and doing a multitude of reviews for that I didn’t get a chance to properly do my weekly review for DOCTOR WHO (namely episodes 2 and 3 which aired during TIFF), both of which I watched.

So, consider this a two-fer review for both DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP and A TOWN CALLED MERCY.

Without further ado…

DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP

This episode is a little more bombastic and less introspective (at least initially) than the Series opener ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS was. I mean let’s run down the list of things in the ep:

- Huge planet sized spaceship? Check.

- Dinosaurs running around on said spaceship? Check.

- Evil megalomaniacal pirate bent on collecting everything? Check.

- Two giant henchman robots with silly dialogue? Check.

- Nefertiti? Check.

- Big Game Hunter reminiscent of someone from a Wilbur Smith novel? Check.

- Amy and Rory post-marital strife? Check.

- Rory’s Dad? Check.

- Angry Doctor? Check.

- Indian Space Agency defense force threatening to destroy the ship and dino’s to save earth from collision? Check.

So yeah, a bit of a dogs breakfast with all the bits in. What makes it actually succeed is the clever writing and the acting across the board. This is not to say that it doesn’t contain things that are odd (Rory’s dad seems to take about 15 seconds to drink in the fact that not only is he in space but also that his son and daughter-in-law have been traveling with a man in time and space saving worlds…which kind of bothered me a bit), but that it contains enough good old fashioned adventurous DW to make it well worth your time.

First up, the side character the Doctor calls on for help, Nefertiti and Riddel are worthy of the temporary companion roles, and a big notion here that will jump out at the informed (AKA those who know that Amy and Rory’s time in the TARDIS is ending with Ep 5) is that the Doctor (who has been without regular companionship for roughly 300 years by the time that last Series CLOSING TIME aired) is starting to show the wear and tear of travelling on his own (which always seems to produce an angrier, and more unrepentant Doctor…like the 9th in DALEK or the 10th in THE RUNAWAY BRIDE) and seems to be at least attempting to supplement the frequent absence of Amy and Rory in his life. That’s a good thing, and it is the reason that both Nef and Riddel are present, but it’s not really working that well. The Doctor shows his unrepentant side on the pirate Solomon and allows him to basically die. It’s a telling moment, but for those speculating that this has never happened before and think the Doctor is not acting like himself… you are quite wrong. Throughout his history (in relaunched Who if not older Classic Who) the Doctor has showcased unrepentant anger, and vicious retribution on people when he’s not travelling with companions. Heck, 11 showed it early on with Amy (THE BEAST BELOW). It’s part of what makes him who he is. The companions temper him, and without them he can become cold and distant. This is what has happened, and I’m happy to see this particular personality trait return. It shows that Moffat and Co. haven’t forgotten it. It also seems to show us how unwilling The Doctor is to let the Ponds go, whereas when other companions have gone on to other lives (willingly or unwillingly) in the past he usually accepts it and moves on. With the Ponds it’s like he clinging to them, and that’s interesting considering how aloof he can be.

DINOSAURS ends on a bleakish note with the Doctor’s anger on display, but it was a fun, and adventurous episode all told and a great way to spend an hour. It’s certainly showing that Series 7 is already kicking Series 6’s ass in the entertainment dept. The standalone nature of the eps (with teeny tiny arc threads) is truly brining us back to a more solidly grounded, uncomplicated DW. And that’s a good thing.

A TOWN CALLED MERCY

This one I liked. I liked it a lot. But my reasons for liking it aren’t the old west town with the anachronistic tech, or the cowboys, or the gunslinger cyborg, or even Ben Browder.

No, my reasons for liking it stem from the alien doctor named Kahler Jex. And more over what he did.

You see Kahler Jex is essentially a war criminal, though he is not thought of like that by his own people. He stopped a war on his planet that was killing millions by experimenting on a number of the inhabitants (under false pretenses) and creating killing machine cyborgs, who eventually stopped the war by virtue of being unstoppable. Though the war was stopped, Jex was ashamed of what he had done and he fled to earth and took residence in the town called (you guessed it) Mercy. There he gave them electricity and running water, and cured Cholera and basically tried to forget what he had done while at the same time pay his own penance for his crimes against those experiments. Well, of course one of them comes look for him and wants to kill him, but doesn’t want to harm the other inhabitants of Mercy.

It’s compelling because once the Doctor learns what Jex did, out comes the angry Doctor again…no less angry than he was on the last episode, but no further. That is until Jex talks about how similar they are to one another. And that hits home for the Doctor who has been told (most recently by Davros in S4) that he crafts weapons out of his companions to do his killing for him. The Doctor tells him that he doesn’t get to choose his own form of punishment, that’s not how this works. He needs to answer for his crimes, even though they stopped a war.

But what really rocks the Doctor back and sets his anger to overload is when he realizes that he really IS NO different from Jex in that facet. The Doctor locked the Time War out of reality, resigning two entire races (the Daleks and the Time Lords) to an eternal state of hell. He essentially (to stop the aggression that threatened to destroy the universe) made the decision to do this on his own, and that falls on him. It’s almost a worse act of war crime, and what’s worse is he KNOWS it. So he snaps and manhandles Jex out to the edge of town past the barrier that the Gunslinger won’t cross and points a gun at him to await his death at the hands of his creation.

WHAT?! You say…The Doctor and a gun? Yes.

Probably my favorite thing about the episode is this moment. And Amy even comments on it (“You see? This is what happens when you travel alone for too long!”). The Doctor, (the man who never would) hasn’t held a gun up to someone since he was at his wits end in THE END OF TIME PART II and Rasillon was threatening to bring the Time War out of the lock and bring about the end of time. So couple that with this moment where Jex has reminded him of his own digressions against not just one but two races of people. It’s poignant and is the likes of which we’ve not seen since RTD gave us the PTSD Doctor (9th Doctor). Being brought so entirely low it is only Amy firing off a gun that brings him back. But not after he tries to defend his actions by mentioning his “mercy” of the Daleks, the Master ect. It’s a key point for him to do so. It shows that the Time War was exactly what he was thinking about (since both the Daleks and the Master were heavily involved in that era of his life) when he was railing at Jex.

So in the end A TOWN CALLED MERCY ends up being a great standalone, with a darker yet still entertaining story…but the core of it is this interaction between the two doctors and their crimes…and then you have Amy telling him he’s traveled too long alone…and finally the parting shot of Amy (when asked to keep traveling) turning him down and talks about their friends might start to see them age faster. The Doctor’s face is priceless in that shot. He knows the trips are getting less frequent with the Ponds and that a time will come soon when he is utterly alone.

And that’s what makes A TOWN CALLED MERCY so compelling as an hour of TV, but especially as an hour of DOCTOR WHO.

As a final note: Hopefully everyone has noticed that the titles sequences (aside from being slightly different with the logo being tailored to fit the theme of the episode)  started slightly murkier than past years and have been getting slowly darker and murkier with each episode. The running theory is that this will continue to happen until Ep 5 (THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN, and the Ponds exit) where it will pretty much be just a murky black screen with the music playing and white titles. Or it could be leading to something more ominous down the line. Either way, I think it's a nice little mystery.

DOCTOR WHO: Series 7 Trailer!

Looks great. BUT WHERE ARE MY MULTIPLE DOCTORS?

Doctor Who: Series 6 Re-Watch, Better The 2nd Time? Surprisingly, yes!

I found myself with a number of free hours on Saturday, and had recently picked up ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’S DOCTOR WHO cover issue, which made me yearn for Series 7 to start.

Unrelated Sidenote: The EW article is kind of a double-edged sword for me. While I LOVE that DW is getting large enough press that a mainstream American publication is paying it such service, a part of me likes the fact that my nerdery still has a cult following, if now a somewhat larger one than it used to have. That said, with a wider global fanbase, the show will get more money thrown at it and that will only enhance and embed the show for our future consumption. So I shouldn't complain.

So what this lazy Saturday ended up producing was a small desire to finally sit down and re-watch Series 6 (which I had previously purchased on BluRay) in its entirety. And I paid special attention to the fact that I had only cracked the package open when I bought it to re-watch my fave episode, the Neil Gaiman-penned THE DOCTOR’S WIFE (which is still the best ep of the lot, BTW), and I had left the rest to languish on the shelf unwatched.

I was you see, at the time to set was released, still burned by my lackluster experience with Series 6. A Series that divided fans and casual watcher’s alike. I recall watching it as it aired and other than the two-part opener (THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT and DAY OF THE MOON), THE DOCTOR’S WIFE, and THE GIRL WHO WAITED, the rest of it left me mostly flat…with the first part of the middle Series cliffhanger, A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR, actually pissing me off. The comeback ep after that, LET’S KILL HITLER, did actually soothe my jangled nerves and was a solid (if not perfect) return to form but it wasn't quite enough. This all amounted to a grumbly Scott who talked about this being his least favourite Series since the show returned in 2005, and lead to posts like my very popular and yet controversial “RTD VS Moffat Comparison” in which Moffat (a writer I love) comes off in a rather bad light in comparison with his predecessor (whose work I feel is the best the show has ever been). I have, however always maintained that one day (probably prior to Series 7’s debut) I WOULD sit down with the 6th Series again and give it another go.

The result was Saturday’s re-watching (in which it should be noted that I actually skipped THE DOCTOR’S WIFE because I’ve watched it 3 times since I bought the set, twice with Gaiman’s commentary track on).

What do I have to say now? Well, I’ve surprisingly come away with a MUCH less vitriolic outlook after my second viewing. In fact, I’ve found that the series not only benefits from the second viewing, but I will probably tell anyone now that a second viewing is REQUIRED. Now, my dauntless Co-Blogger Chris will probably say the following: “You should not have to re-watch the Series for it to be good.” And while I agree with that sentiment, I must qualify my statement. Watchers of the entire RTD-era of DW since 2005 who have found Moffat’s series to not be remotely as good…should re-watch Series 6. Why? Let me give you a few reasons.

A Combination of Newness-es

As stated by Chris in a previous comment thread, we had to adjust to not only a Doctor regeneration, but we also had to adjust to a stylistic shift between the original showrunner (RTD) and the new one (Steven Moffat). And I quote Chris: “The show feels like a different show because it IS a different show”. Adjusting to a new Doctor (known as “Regeneration Jitters”) is a difficult (if not wholly unexpected) thing to have to do. It usually takes nearly an entire series for that new Doctor to get his mannerisms down, and for him to imprint upon the viewer. Now, with a showrunner/style change (especially one where Moffat was trying to give the show back to kids, without removing its coolness factor) the length of that adjustment period is apparently significantly longer. In this case, 2 whole Series. If we are honest with ourselves we can be very sure that Matt Smith’s Doctor didn’t have telltale things going on with his version of the character until at the very earliest the Series 5 finale THE BIG BANG. I’m saying that Moffat-WHO has taken that much longer as an adjustment on the whole. Consider it like this. I can recall watching the early Tennant episodes like THE CHRISTMAS INVASION, NEW EARTH and TOOTH & CLAW and thinking “That is NOT the Doctor”, yearning for Christopher Eccelstone…meanwhile Tennant ended up becoming my all-time favourite Doctor ever by the end of that Series. So I can NOW go back and re-watch those early Tennant episodes with my fave Doctor and enjoy the heck out of them!

Hi! I'm The Expectation Fairy. 

This is super key here. When we watched Series 6 initially we had some really hefty expectations. I think we can all agree that though it had a few missteps, Series 5 was a fairly solid first year for Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Moffat. On the tail end of such a fantastic two-part finale we were left wondering a few things. Who are the Silence? Who is River Song? What did she do? What are Amy and Rory and how do they fit into things? Series 5 basically primed us for the goods, and when Series 6 began, if you were like me, then you had the TV on, snacks ready, and cursed every commercial that aired during THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT. We were expecting the best of the best of the best…and quite frankly those first two episodes delivered in spades. They were mysterious, actions packed, and pretty stellar all around. I think that’s where the first crack in the armor begins.

SIDENOTE SERIES 6 RUNDOWN: 
Because of how good they were, we expected that level throughout the Series. And I think we all though that the revelations we were awaiting would be bigger than they were. So when we moved on to the Pirate episode (THE CURSE OF THE BLACK SPOT) after the tricky, clever, strange, excellence of THE DAY OF THE MOON it is not only found wanting, but seems distastefully bad in comparison. “Where is the main Arc story?! What is this simplistic nonsense?” we chanted.

Breathe.

Most DW fans would feel, this is an anomaly. It won’t happen again.

And we were briefly proven correct as the 4th episode is Neil Gaiman’s THE DOCTOR’S WIFE which is probably one of Matt Smith’s finest performances in his tenure, and features a wonderfully simple, yet engaging story. “Phew!” We thought. “That was close. Here we go, now the Series can get properly underway”.

So then came along a moody, dark two-part episode THE REBEL FLESH and THE ALMOST PEOPLE. A unique idea (people in harnesses manipulating FleshTM clones of themselves), but for all intents and purposes seems heavily incongruous to the main story Arc (It didn't end up being such, but it's how we saw it at the time). I recall being non-plussed by the heavy-handed “slavery” and “Artificial Intelligence being sentient” angles in the plot as it seemed…easy? Pandering? I guess. So, another road bump but not a totally derailing one. Just one that left me a little cold.

But wait! Here comes the mid-series finale. A huge, twisty, “game-changer” of an episode according to Moffat and Co. So aired A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR…and it fell incredibly short of those hyped expectations, and the only real reveal is that of River Song being a future version of Amy and Rory’s child Melody Pond. Conceived in the TARDIS, giving her TimeLord capabilities-ish, and kidnapped as a baby to be raised to kill the Doctor. It was cobbled around a number of side-characters who are cool enough in their own right to have had whole episodes. They don’t get that time to develop and so the episode feels extra-crammed and a lot of what is meant to come across as depth of plot and excitement comes across as cardboard cutouts and rushed scenes. The River Song revelation (too long in coming IMHO, since her Series 4 intro) ends up being “par for the course” or at least "expected" and certainly not enough to justify this “game-changer” moniker. I recall being VERY annoyed. The biggest kitchen sink episode ever.

We then had a break (which I have always maintained was a BIG mistake on the showrunner’s part) of a few months in which I stewed, and simmered about what had been happening to my WHO…it was so bad that when the show was preparing to come back with LET’S KILL HITLER I was…not exactly excited.

Now thankfully that episode moved past a lot of what made the first part bad and gave us good stuff like: earlier incarnations of River Song, a much more helpful Amy & Rory than normal, a very interesting alien menace with the Tessalecta robots, and lastly an emotional Matt Smith Doctor (last seen in THE DOCTOR’S WIFE). I was excited again and enjoyed the episode thoroughly. Why? It was the opposite of A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR. It was simple, straightforward, and well acted. But it made me question the fact that if the two-parter had been spread out better we might not have needed the kitchen-sink-ness of the 1st part, and could have had a stellar, connected Two-Parter. So while I was back and enjoyed, I had REALLY begun questioning the showrunning.

Then along came NIGHT TERRORS, another dark and moody episode. Was it good. Err, yes. Was it amazing? Not really. It was a quiet little introspective episode, but it was kind of forgettable, with the Companions doing little.

Then the much talked about THE GIRL WHO WAITED, which really is the second best of the Non-Moffat written eps and was pretty damned good all the way through. It was bright, well-acted, decently paced and a very solid episode of DOCTOR WHO. But I was still off-kilter from the previous letdowns of the Series to really allow myself to enjoy it as much as I should have.

Then comes the second dark, moody and seemingly forgettable episode in the “stuck in a haunted hotel” THE GOD COMPLEX, which while good was fairly by-the-numbers. What is going on?

I was able to enjoy the next episode CLOSING TIME mostly because it featured the return of the Craig Owens character from last Series THE LODGER, and watching him interact with The Doctor is always amusing…but they also spent the episode treating the Cybermen as secondary citizen villains and that put me right off.

So that was where I sat going into the finale THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG. I was grumbly, annoyed, not really that excited and basically put off. It turns out that the finale was going to be another dog’s breakfast of an episode that would tie together the events of the opening two-parter with the River Song revelation. It was…kind of a mess. I was left at the end feeling wholly let down by the 6th Series as a whole.

Audience As Companion (AKA no go-between)

Now, the last reason why you should re-watch is this. Something I wasn’t expecting to realize on a re-watch. During his tenure RTD always concentrated on the Companions stories. He did so because that is who OUR link is from the audience to the Doctor. It begins in ROSE that way on purpose. We can’t relate to this alien being, but we can relate to the girl who works in a shop. And through her (and subsequent Companions) we can relate to him. This is conspicuously absent from Moffat’s WHO most of the time. We rarely see Amy & Rory’s family and friends, and more often than not we aren’t THAT invested in the two companions themselves. On my re-watch I’ve suddenly realized why this is. Moffat has decided that the show should shift the focus from the Companion(s) and put it directly on the Doctor himself. No go-between or Buffer for Audience and Doctor this time. And if you watch the 6th Series with this in mind you realize that spotlight is almost ALWAYS on The Doctor and really Amy and Rory are purposely on the sidelines. This is the key reason why we never get all that involved with Amy and Rory. We are spending our time getting to know the Doctor again…but we are doing it without the help of the Companion this time. If you will allow the analogy WE ARE the companions. The Audience. This is why our fave moments from Series 6 are the moments when this colder, angrier yet more madcap version of the Doctor expresses human emotions. Saying goodbye to “Sexy, the TARDIS” in THE DOCTOR’S WIFE, lying prostrate and dying; asking for help from Mels in LET’S KLL HITLER, emotionally telling Rory that Older Amy can’t get in the TARDIS with modern Amy, and even from the most recent Christmas Special THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW & THE WARDROBE when Amy and Rory tell him that there is always a place set for him at Christmas and he sheds that lone tear. Seriously, re-watch THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT and see how Amy and Rory don’t really ACT like companions. They sit there ribbing on the Doctor aloud for making a spectacle of himself throughout history to get noticed. They leave him out of the revelation about his impending death. They act less like Companions and more like secretive versions of HIM, especially River Song.

So, allowing those things I’ve mentioned above and re-watching the eps of the whole Series you come away with a truly different mindset, especially about the forgettable or annoying episodes.

THE CURSE OF THE BLACK SPOT – This becomes a standalone episode in which the key point is that it’s a Doctor/Nurse program attempting to take care of injured people. With expectation removed you can enjoy this one for what it is. With the added focus on the Doctor, with little help from Non-Companions Amy & Rory he experiences the love of family VIA the ships' Captain, and the need to heal VIA the stroppy mermaid.

THE REBEL FLESH & THE ALMOST PEOPLE – Again with expectations removed and the Non-Companion-centric nature of the show and being able to watch for a bunch of REALLY blatant clues that the Doctor went there on purpose because he KNEW Amy was a Ganger and had been kidnapped in Episode 2. He actually hesitates on a number of cues in those eps. But what we really get from those now is the Ganger Doctor and Amy’s reaction to him when she mixes them up, coupled with Rory’s misguided attempt to save Non-Ganger Jennifer. The purpose of the entire thing is to set us up for the chilling reveal when Amy is shown to be a Ganger. With that in mind as its purpose, it works MUCH better. Again, with expectations removed we can enjoy the two-parter for what it is.

A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR – I still don’t love this episode, but now at least I can understand properly WHY I don’t and it has less to do with writing (as I'd previously assumed) than pacing. With the expectation removed about the River Song revelation, and being able to assemble it together with the dénouement in LET’S KILL HITLER I can fully see what was being attempted. The multiple characters ought to have been introduced in other episodes leading up to this one and not crammed into the prologue, Rory should have been allowed at LEAST a whole episode alone with the Doctor stewing about where Amy is to build up to that prologue moment where Rory the Roman shows up to annihilate a Cybermen ship, The Headless monks needed far more setup, and The action setpiece needed to be more drawn out to maximize effect with characters we knew and loved already. So basically this ep needed another hour or more and it would have been good. Perhaps a 3 or 4 episode arc would have sufficed for what Moffat was attempting to do. But he jams it almost all into an hour, and that’s where it falls flat. All the ingredients are in here for a really good tale, but the cake was taken out of the oven too soon and uncooked batter is gross.

NIGHT TERRORS and THE GOD COMPLEX – When you look at both these episodes on their own and with the normal “Companion as link” factor they come off exactly as they did to me the first time, but with the Companion feature removed and the Doctor in the focus…all of the sudden it becomes something completely different. In fact, these are probably two of the most intimate portrayals of the Doctor as a character in Series 6, all his faults bared for us to see. These two hammer home the “Audience As Companion” thing to me.

CLOSING TIME – I always was bothered by the fact that this episode seemed tacked on and was part of my upset of the finale not being a two-parter like last Series since it fell in the penultimate spot usually where the first part of the finale would reside. But upon a re-watch it really has been constructed as both a prologue to the finale, and as a strong link to the opening Two-Parter. It shows us where the 1103-year old Doctor who gets iced by the Astronaut in TIA on that desert lake has come from. It shows us the world weary man who must go to a demise he knows is coming. That notion also sets up the finale as well. So it's FAR more clever than I initially gave it any credit for.

THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG – Still a dogs breakfast suffering from the exact same pacing symptoms of AGMGTW, the kitchen sink syndrome. Attempting to do WAY too much in an hour…BUT, upon my re-watch I noted something that always stuck out to me and caused much of my ire for the Ep... was wrong. I always said that River basically stopping time to be able to have the Doctor to herself and stop him dying was the polar opposite of what he would want. That he would consider such an act, which had killed millions so he could live, would be reprehensible to the Doctor as we know him and that she seemingly gets off light for the act. I also always assumed that River’s “dreaded day when the Doctor would hold her in more contempt” and when he found out what “she did” was the fact that she was kidnapped, raised by the Silence for the purpose of killing The Doctor and that she does ultimately in fact shoot and kill him. Then on my re-watch I discovered something unexpected. The Doctor TELLS her about the Tessalecta version of him “Look into my eye”…so that means that when River (in the space suit) kills him on the Beach, she is aware that he won’t die, the Tessalecta will recreate the Regeneration effects, he’d get shot a second time and meanwhile the TARDIS and real DOCTOR would disappear from the Tessalecta Doctor body alive and well. So if River KNEW she wouldn’t kill the Doctor, and so did he (coupled with knowing that she could not have helped it)…then rationale dictates that couldn’t be the thing she was dreading him finding out. And then it dawned on me, like being hit in the head with Jim The fish….the event she was not looking forward to, the one the Doctor would have a hard time forgiving, the thing that would make him perceive her differently…was the time stopping, the killing of millions to have him live. He DIDN’T let her get off lightly…and in fact my guess is that he treats her with a little contempt beyond that moment for having done that…and that’s why she’s always so sad about it, since he no longer looks at her as he did and instead looks at her as someone who did the one thing he really could not forgive (even though in the end it was all righted which was why he DOES kind of let her off but that doesn't mean he's forgotten she did it). That revelation blew me away and it makes me REALLY enjoy THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG in a totally new way.

So, the result of my re-watch? I was actually able to enjoy Series 6 FAR more than I had been able to the first time. Removing expectations, realizing that the focus isn’t the companions, but the Doctor himself has made the transition to Moffat’s WHO be different. It’s not a perfect Series and doesn’t have as many good beats as Series 5 did. It’s got some problems (most of which stem from that overstuffed A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR debacle), but upon a re-watch those problems gain perspective and make me admire what Moffat had set out to do…and even though he didn’t REALLY achieve it, I can feel the effort now. What’s more is that I can see where he’s going with the Series, and I’m hopeful that Series 7 may be Moffat’s best yet.

So I recommend to any who felt Series 6 didn’t live up to it’s potential to re-watch it. Give it a fresh chance and attempt to see it VIA the angles I’ve discovered. It makes for much more compelling watching and makes me eat a BIT (not a lot) of crow from my previous stance of “This is pretty awful”. I honestly never thought I’d day that, and I didn’t think that Series 6 would ever have anything to offer me.

Is RTD’s tenure still my fave? You bet your ass it is. Is David Tennant still my fave? Yuppers! But being able to appreciate what Moffat was striving for with my expectations removed, that’s pretty priceless.

The best part of this Re-Watch has been that it makes me THAT much more excited for Series 7 to debut later in August. 

Doctor Who Crackpot Theories! Series 7! Could The New Companion Still Be The Master? Or Maybe A Dalek? Will The 50th Anniversary Have Multiple Doctor's?

Here’s what has begun to happen this summer (I know it’s not officially summer yet, but it is to me, so there!).

Scott awaits the Seventh Series of DOCTOR WHO.

Scott gets impatient and decides to forget about it.

Scott’s Internet bookmarks (no less than 5 of which are DW related) begin to taunt him.

Scott’s judgment blurs and he begins to pine away for a show that likely won’t start till late September (the premiere will be held August 23rd).

Scott gives up on holding off and begins to get actively excited for a show that won’t air for over two months yet. 

So, DOCTOR WHO fans, if you are like me then you enjoy speculating on what is in store for us in this new Series. That’s why we have a column here at Iceberg Ink called CRACKPOT THEORIES! I know you like them...

So let’s get to it shall we?

The “I’m not letting this go” Companion theory

I know I mentioned in the past (before Jenna Louise Coleman was cast in the role) that it would have been stellar and twisty to have a post-THE END OF TIME PART 2 Master (still played by John Simms, at least initially) who with the “drums” removed from his head (the cause of his insanity) might become a more benevolent (if Magneto-ish) character and therefore could be a GREAT foil as a companion to the Doctor. With the two revisiting a friendship they’ve not seen since their childhood together on Gallifrey. I just really loved the notion of that and the stories that could be written in that mold.

Now, I know that particular FLAVOUR of the theory has been blown out of the water by Coleman being cast (and rumored to be named Clara) in the companion role. But Moffat still said that she would be the most unlikely person for the Doctor to partner with. So, since this is the regeneration-heavy DOCTOR WHO universe, how about the same theory, just tweaked. Clara ends up being a female regeneration of the Master (again, post-THE END OF TIME PART 2) and is either wholly benevolent, or partially benevolent. I just think it would be REALLY great to see someone in the TARDIS who often challenges the Doctor’s motives and quite possibly offers the (sorry to keep using this analogy) Magneto-style viewpoint. A fellow timelord who presents a counterpoint and actually has the heritage (Gallifreyan and Timelord) to challenge the Doctor on his level.

Other [Clara] Companion Identity Notions Theory

Now, should she not be the Master, who else could Clara be that the Doctor would least expect? I present to you a few options without commentary…just to be cryptic.

-Jenny (from Series 4 THE DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER)

-Another Timelord we’ve not met before

-The Rani

- NOT River Song


- Random Human for the 5th Great and Bountiful Human Empire survivor.




And here is one of my pet theories WITH some commentary:

-A humanoid of the species that eventually becomes the Daleks. On the planet Skaro we know that the humanoid species of the Kaled’s and the Thal’s warred with nuclear and biological weapons causing widespread mutations and that Davros eventually created the Daleks in his image (that of a personal tank) using mutated Kaleds. So my supposition is that perhaps Clara is somehow a survivor of the Kaled-Thal war and was not mutated retaining her original humanoid form. Perhaps as a baby she was spirited away off-planet or the like to be raised as she was…but perhaps she still is aware of her race’s eventual evolution into the killer Daleks. Even if this doesn’t happen, it would be nice to see NuWho pay a little homage to the great Genesis if the Daleks episodes. We also know that the season opener is an episode with MANY different incarnations of the Daleks, so perhaps that will tie in down the line with Clara. Like I said, pet theory and probably not at all feasible…but just imagine the Doctor’s companion being one of the species of his hated enemy. Crazy!


The “Let’s Talk About Chris’ Vow” Multiple Doctor 50th Anniversary Theory

This is practically a no-brainer. Now first off, we all know Chris is nearly as obsessed (not quite though) with DOCTOR WHO as I am. So it comes with interesting quantities of shock that he has openly stated (twice!) that IF for some reason the 50th Anniversary episode(s) in 2013 DON’T include multiple previous incarnations of The Doctor (starring folks like Tennant, Davison, Baker et al) then he will officially be DONE with DOCTOR WHO. Now, I’ve known Chris a lot of years….and if he makes this vow he will stick to it no matter HOW good the post Series Seven eps could be.

That said, I personally (though I could never make such a vow myself) am right on side with his thinking. This is the 50th Anniversary of the show. Wait…that’s not enough build-up…

This is the 50th Anniversary of the BBC’s FLAGSHIP series that has populated Saturday night Telly on and off for half a century, and has seen such a ridiculous rise in overseas success that it ranks VERY highly amongst even North American sci-fi fans, let alone Brits.

Phew. Yeah, so that’s what we are talking about here. Now if Steven Moffat (a man who for the most part I endlessly admire as a writer and a staple of British TV) does for some reason choose to not do a multiple Doctor story for the 50th…I truly feel that will be the biggest disservice to the fans of the show ever in his tenure. It could even be as big a mis-step as the 6th Doctor’s Series (TIME LORD ON TRIAL) was for the show.

Now, the GOOD news is that the last major Anniversary (the 20th Anniversary in 1983) saw the airing of the multiple Doctor story THE FIVE DOCTOR’S during the 5th Doctor’s tenure, and had the 1st (re-cast since the original actor had passed away), 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Doctor’s solving a problem together. It’s one of the more cherished the Classic-Who’s time on TV and I personally still love it. If anything ought to be an indicator to Moffat and Co. showcasing what the 50th Anniversary ought to be about, then that should definitely be it. So hopefully armed with the knowledge that probably more than a majority of the fans WANT a Multiple Doctor story arc tying into the 11th’s story, they will do what is right and give us such a story.

Now, like I said, I could never NOT watch DW…so I can’t make the same Vow as Chris has, but I will definitely side with him on the notion that this is what SHOULD happen for the 50th and if it doesn’t I’ll be pretty annoyed.

The New Old Villain Mention Theory

Now, aside from knowing the Daleks and The Weeping Angels return in the Seventh Series it has been mentioned only this morning that over the weekend at a Convention in the UK that perhaps the Ice Warriors would also be making a return/revamp. Not having seen any of the original Classic eps with this villain, I DO know that they seem to be a fan favourite, so a revamping of them could only be a welcome addition to NuWho. As I really feel that the show should always try out new villains and cover new territory that it’s never a bad idea to fall back and reinvent classic villains in kind of an homage to what came before.

Well, that’s about it for this week’s Crackpot Theories post, but stay tuned over the summer as more info gets dropped about the next Series perhaps there will be more room for more theories to pop up.

Doctor Who News: New Companion for Series 7 Named!

It’s big news day folks. The news DOCTOR WHO fans have waited to hear since learning that Amy and Rory would be leaving the show and a new companion would be accompanying the Doctor on his adventures has finally dropped.

Announced today, Jenna-Louise Coleman (EMMERDALE) will be the new companion joining Matt Smith’s Doctor after the departure of Amy and Rory, which will happen (according to showrunner Steven Moffat) in Episode 5.

I applaud the choice simply because I am a big fan of EMMERDALE and Jenna’s role on it. I think she’ll provide a great foil to Smith’s manic Doctor.

What does everyone think about this choice? Aside from blowing my crackpot theory about it being The Master out of the water, I am curious to find out where she’ll be from and what her backstory will be.

UPDATE: I've added a video below of Jenna's first interview about the part. Enjoy!

Doctor Who Crackpot Theories! Series 7! The Master as the new Companion! Multiple Doctor 50th Anniversary!

Sorry about the slow week folks. I’ve been moving house for the last two weeks or so and my reading/watching time has been seriously reduced by packing/cleaning/throwing out stuff ect. Moving sucks. I also had read Will Hill’s mammoth 700-page DEPARTMENT 19 sequel THE RISING, and though I wrote up my review for it, I’ve been asked by Harper Collins Canada to not post until close to the release date and I’m abiding those wishes. I had also planned to begin doing reviews of MERLIN (like I do with DOCTOR WHO) starting with Series 2, but now I am having my girlfriend watch Series 1 so we can watch the second Series together. So that will have to wait as well. The life of a blogger when life interferes eh?

So I thought for Friday that we’d do a DOCTOR WHO Series 7 Informational and Crackpot Theory Post, which will include all the info we have so far.

First things first, when it comes to info about Series 7 the only clearly admitted and defined fact is that both Amy and Rory will be exiting the Series (and if Karen Gillan is to be believed her character at least will be killed and un-revivable) and that an all new companion will be joining the Doctor. The talk from Moffat was that this person is not from earth and is “the last person the Doctor would expect”. The other somewhat knowable info is that Matt Smith MAY be leaving at the end of the Series which will also be the excitement-inducing 50th Anniversary Special(s) and he MAY not. If he does, I’d be fine with that as he’s had a good run, but I’d also be quite comfortable with him staying on board for an 8th Series. Some guest actors have been announced like Mark Williams (who played Arthur Weasley in the HARRY POTTER films) who’s character has been revealed as Brian Williams which we can all safely assume is Rory’s father. I’ll be very interested to see Rory’s parent since his family has been conspicuously absent so far. The cast has left for Spain where they will be shooting an Old West-based episode. They will shoot another episode there as well and there is a rumor that the Tabernas Desert will be standing in for the ruins of Skaro.

Now onto crackpotted-ness.

Achievement Unlocked: Point-Form-io!

- I personally think that Amy will die and Rory will live, since only Gillan has mentioned about wanting her character completely killed off. I have a feeling that her goodbye will have something to do with making the Roman Soldier Who Waited Rory “let her go” and that will be the catharsis for his character and an end to his arc since he spends so much time protecting her, it would be a nice dovetail for his end to not be marred by trying to save her once again. I also think that the “They always kill Rory” aspect will be flipped around and he will live to a ripe old age.

- I think Matt Smith WILL leave the role with the 50th Anniversary since that’s not only a natural stopping point, but it will really place his 11th Doctor into a very nice spot in the fandom and people will really remember him that way.

- When I heard the news that the new companion wasn’t from earth and was the last person the Doctor would expect I had two thoughts. Both utterly outrageous, one not really do-able and the other one is tantalizingly feasible. First I’m sure everyone has heard about Moffat trying to get people to follow Sophie Myles on Twitter (who played Madame De Pompadour in the Hugo-winning episode he wrote in Series 2 THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE, but she’d be negated because she doesn’t fall into the category of “not from earth” so she’s not all that feasible. The second guess is wild but I love it. What if the Doctor’s new companion is …The Master. Think about it. John Simm’s Master not only helped the 10th Doctor in THE END OF TIME against the rogue Time Lords led by Rassilon, he also spent that episode proving that perhaps his madness came from the implanted “four beats” in his head. I just think it would be a really excellent juxtaposition between the Doctor’s good nature and the Master insane nature. It would make for a VERY interesting series if nothing else. Plus TWO Time Lords!

- I have been discussing the 50th Anniversary with Chris for a while and we both feel that they might perhaps spread the 50th over a few specials (and not just one or a two-parter) and that makes sense in my head since the running belief is that it will be a multiple-Doctor story arc. We expect the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), the 8th Doctor (Paul Mcgann), the 5th Doctor (Peter Davison), and maybe even the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccelstone) to appear, and possibly even a wibbly wobbly timey wimey version of the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker). I think if the 50th happened without hosting multiple Doctor’s then that would be an utter travesty to the show. So my thinking is that they might have separate episodes that each concentrate on a different Doctor (in their era or not) and that all of them will have some over-arcing threading into the 11th’s death on the fields of Trenzalore when the question that must be asked is asked... “Doctor Who?”

- Now, if the multi-Doctor arc turns out to be true then can we expect any previous companions to return? Strangely I doubt it (even though seeing Rose one more time would fill me with immense joy!), simply because Moffat is seemingly a fan of leaving the past in the past when it comes to the Doctor’s relationships. That said, if we could see married couple Martha and Mickey kicking ass, or Rose + Torchwood Alt Earth and maybe even the Human Doctor too, and Donna…oh how great would it be to see Donna again? I think that seeing any of these people again is the most ephemeral of wishes and they probably won’t come true, but a fan can still dream.

- Lastly, in the mention of the rumor about the Spanish desert standing in for “the ruins of Skaro”, that gets me excited beyond belief. Simply because the aspect of “ruins” implies that this will be post-Time War Skaro and therefore will include some sort of facet of the aftermath of the Daleks and the Time War. Because if you think about it, so far we’ve only dealt with remnants, secret police and escapees (including Davros) of the time War when it comes to the Daleks. What we haven’t seen is properly what happened to the race as a whole. We also have Dorium Maldovar’s cryptic statements about the reasoning behind the Silence’s attempts to prevent the Doctor being on the “fields of Trenzalore and the Fall of the Eleventh”. I foresee a possibility where those fields are actually on Skaro, but who knows since the Doctor wasn’t given much time to react to that revelation at the end of THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG. At any rate, the ruins of Skaro also further makes the case for the multi-Doctor arc since it is post-Time War and you could literally have anything happen. 

So, what think all our faithful readers of the Crackpot notions I have put forth? Or the info we have that is confirmed? Amy and Rory leaving (yeah I’ll be honest and say that I’ll miss Rory more than Amy as she was kind of a bore in Series 6 as a character)? Speculation on the new companion? Is Matt leaving? What say you? Have at it in the comments section folks.