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Reviews
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot (2013)
A delightful piece of fluff
The fans have always looked forward to multi-Doctor stories from "The Three Doctors" to "The Two Doctors" to "The Five Doctors".
This is no different with the possible exception that this is the 50th anniversary one of the top science fiction franchises in the world and the demand for a multi-doctor story, however impractical, was there.
Enter Peter Davison...
Scene: Christmas 2012-Filming is fast approaching for the actual 50th anniversary episode (Day Of The Doctor) with three actors anxiously awaiting a phone call from show runner Steven Moffat. It becomes more and more clear that Mssrs Davison, C. Baker and McCoy are not penciled into the cast. Desperate times call for desperate measures. They picket The BBC building in London. Enter John Barrowman who informs the picketers that Doctor Who is filmed in Cardiff, Wales.
Road Trip!! The boys arrive in Cardiff and promptly steal t-shirts resembling their old costumes from the Doctor Who Experience. Luckily, Peter Davison has an inside contact on the set, a certain actor with a Scottish accent who happens to be married to his daughter. That's when the fun begins as they are hunted by security, wander through some of the offices, sign autographs for one of the guards, lock the Dalek operators in their waiting room and manage to get on set disguised as Daleks. Mission Accomplished! Or is it? Cut to (after closing credits) two weeks later where Producer Steven Moffat and an associate are viewing and editing the programme. The show is running 10 minutes over, the Dalek scene is then cut from the programme. When Mr. Moffat is distracted by a phone call, the editor moves onto the next scene, one with The Doctor, Clara and Kate first enter the under-gallery. Guess who might be under those shrouds? Lightly poking fun at itself for almost the entire 30 minutes, there are many 'insider references' and inside jokes that will delight the fans (particularly ones of the classics) but do not have to be understood to enjoy the programme.
The cast list is impressive and the show needs multiple viewing to see who's who. And despite the title, there are references or nods to each of the other doctors with the exception of the late William Hartnell, Chris Eccleston, and the upcoming doctor, Peter Capaldi. Or if there were, I missed them.
Doctors 2 and 3 are referenced by their sons, David Troughton and Sean Pertwee respectively. Tom Baker is referenced when Colin calls him and we hear his voice on a voice-mail. And of course, Matt Smith and David Tennant physically appear.
30 minutes of fun at least semi-sanctioned by the BBC judging from the cast and use of opening credits. Very enjoyable.
Doctor Who: The Power of Three (2012)
An atypical Episode
The typical DW episode goes something like this: the TARDIS lands in a place where there is or might be a problem (be it Skaro, Earth, Traken, Gallifrey or Sarn), Doctor runs about getting chased by both sides while learning about the problem, Doctor solves problem while possibly rescuing, gaining, or losing companions or all of the previous. Doctor rides off into the sunset in the TARDIS.
Not so here. In this episode we find out what happens if the Doctor is forced to remain in one place to monitor an ongoing situation/problem. And that is he would go bonkers! That's the premise here. Earth wakes up to find millions, billions or even trillions of identical black cubes all over the place. In typical fashion, the cubes get assimilated into human's lives. Cue the Doctor moving in with Amy and Rory. In no time, the Doctor is stir crazy and goes wandering off leaving Amy, Rory, and Brian (along with UNIT scientist Kate) to deal with the cubes After visiting the court of King Henry VIII, and the opening of the Savoy, the Doctor returns in time to see the cubes activate (and in a bizarre twist, one of the cubes plays a song not associated with DW).
Of course, the Doctor wins out and saves the day in the end. Therein is one of the major problems with the episode for me. It was like the writer said "uh oh, I'm up to page 48 and I promised Moffat I'd bring it in at no more than 55 pages" and just pounded out the whole duex ex machina solution of the cubes/The Shakri/The Tally of waving the sonic screwdriver around and having the cubes work for the Doctor.
What worked for me, though, was the editing which hearkens the Doctor back to a time when he was a bit more manic, as it were. Matt Smith gets to show off his football (soccer) skills, ala "The Lodger". But for me (and probably many Who fans that started out by watching Classic Who) was the reveal that Kate Stewart is in fact Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, daughter of the Briagdier. The interaction between the characters was wonderful and I'm hoping that she becomes at least a semi-regular.
The actual ending ending, I'm sure, made some fans tear up as the Doctor promises, "Not, them Brian" while we know full well that the next episode is "TATM" and Amy and Rory Williams are destined to die.
A thoroughly enjoyable episode (for me) that I rank as in the top 2 or 3 of the first part of series 7
Doctor Who: Asylum of the Daleks (2012)
A bit over-hyped...
... by fandom with the whole 'every Dalek since 1963' rumours running around the internet. Given the scope of the episode, it is forgivable. But having said that, there was no way in the world that this episode could live up to that hype and anticipation.
What was good about the episode? Daleks, Daleks, and more Daleks. More Daleks than you can shake a sonic screwdriver at. Including one that belongs to former show runner Russell T Davies and the Special Weapons Dalek (although I must have blinked and missed it) from the Sylvester McCoy era. And, of course, Steven Moffatt's new Dalek paradigm.
Interesting twists? Yes! And at the top of the list is the reason for the friction in and eventual 'ending' of Amy and Rory's marriage, the soufflé girl turning out to the the doctor's new companion (and what she actually turns out to be). Many claim to have seen that denouement coming from a mile away, but I will frankly admit I did not see either coming and was surprised to see the credits featuring Jenna-Louise Coleman as a cast member.
Steven Moffat promised to 'reboot' the Daleks and seeing what he did in this episode, you can confidently say that he has started. Where is going with the 'new' Daleks, no one knows (Maybe not even Mr. Moffat, but I seriously doubt it). And advancing one of the carryover story arcs about the 'first question' by giving his new Daleks a lobotomy and wiping their memory cores of the Doctor.
All in all a fun episode that seem to have a couple of nits that are being picked at by Whovians familiar with the Dalek back-story.
Doctor Who: School Reunion (2006)
Recommended for 1st time DW viewers
Quite easily one of my top five favorite episodes (if not #1). A good story. Poignant moments, cheeky moments, this episode has it. A satisfying tribute to the Classic DW with one of the most popular companions from the classic era. You can see from the moment that the Doctor first sees Sarah, that this is going to be something special. And it delivers. The initial byplay, the scene in the café where Sarah believes she did something wrong, to complaining about the navigation of the TARDIS (You'd think that with all the time The Doctor spends in England, he and the TARDIS would know the difference between Aberdeen and Croydon). But the big highlight for me was the "discussion" between Rose and Sarah in the classroom. What starts out as open antagonism becomes a funny, wonderful scene where the 'old' generation eventually bonds with the new. And I can't help but smile at the fact that Sarah Jane gets the last word in ("The. Lock. Ness. Monster!") This episode also provided the inspiration and impetus for "The Sarah Jane Adventures".