May 3, 20178 yr I really liked that one! I liked the build-up of the characters, they were all quite unique and interesting!
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://www.doctorwhoreviews.altervista.org/2011-05_files/The%20Rebel%20Flesh%20(1).jpg 65 The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People Series 6, Episodes 5 and 6 Doctor: Eleventh Companion: Amy Pond, Rory Williams After being caught in the waves of a "solar tsunami", the TARDIS arrives on Earth in the 22nd century. They're on a remote island, and they find a factory inside an abandoned castle, where they pump a highly corrosive acid to the mainland. The crew in the factory are revealed to be using a self-replicating fluid to create doppelgangers of themselves, known as "gangers", controlling them from special harnesses so they can operate in the more dangerous areas of the factory. The gangers are seen as disposable bodies by the crew. The Doctor offers to take the crew away to protect them from the solar tsunami, but Miranda Cleaves, head of the base, refuses until they get orders from the mainland. An electrical strike hits the castle and renders everyone unconscious. They awake to find there's no sign of their gangers, but their personal belongings have been rummaged through and the TARDIS has been sunk into the ground by acid. Cleaves and Jennifer are revealed to be gangers themselves, with Jennifer being able to contort or stretch her own body where necessary. Cleaves is working in secret with the other gangers, planning to kill the humans. The Doctor tries to unite both sides, but the human Cleaves kills one of the gangers and any attempt at peace is ruined. Rory hears Jennifer scream and separates from the group, while the Doctor and Amy meet a new ganger in the chapel - the Doctor himself! The Almost People sees Amy not trusting the ganger Doctor, especially after he asks her about the Doctor's death that she witnessed in The Impossible Astronaut. The Doctors split up in an attempt to find Rory. Meanwhile, ganger Cleaves realises she is suffering from the same terminal illness as human Cleaves. Ganger Jennifer kills her human counterpart, and manages to fool Rory into thinking she is human. She lures him to a console, claiming it will restore power when in fact it would make the acid dangerously unstable. She then convinces him to lure the others into the acid storage chamber. Ganger Doctor manages to convince Ganger Jimmy and the others that they should work with the humans, with Jimmy's son calling him on his birthday, but Ganger Jennifer is outraged by this. They free the trapped humans and are all chased by Jennifer, who transforms herself into a monster. They come across the TARDIS, which has fallen through from outside after the acid corrosion, and they all escape while Ganger Doctor and Ganger Cleaves fend off the creature. Amy's distrust of the Doctor was revealed to be misplaced, after he switched shoes with the ganger Doctor. The sonic screwdriver turns the gangers of the Doctor, Cleaves and Jennifer all back to liquid. Meanwhile, the Doctor stabilises the remaining gangers' forms on the TARDIS, whilst curing Cleaves of her terminal condition, and then drops them off. To the horror of Rory, Amy is revealed to be a ganger and has been for a long time, and the Doctor arrived at the factory on purpose to investigate the gangers. I absolutely love the idea of the gangers, and particularly the question of morals and how "human" they actually are. Sadly some of this is ruined by them not being utilised to their full potential, the Jennifer ganger in particular getting a bit ridiculous towards the end, but otherwise I thought it was quite a solid plot and definitely one of the better series 6 episodes! The cliffhanger was excellent too, and set up the mid-series finale very well.
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://www.radiotimes.com/uploads/images/original/62665.jpg 64 Last Christmas 2014 Christmas Special Doctor: Twelfth Companion: Clara Oswald Also starring: Danny Pink Capaldi's first Christmas special saw the Doctor and Clara come face to face with... Santa Claus?! After they meet Santa on Clara's rooftop, the reunited duo head to the North Pole, to meet a team of people who are attempting to save their fellow crew members from crab-like creatures. The Doctor identifies them as Dream Crabs, aliens that induce pleasant dreams on their victims as a distraction while they eat their brains. Clara is attacked by a Dream Crab and is sent to a dream world, where Danny Pink is still alive. She ignores the Doctor's attempts at communicating with her, wishing that the dream world was real. The Doctor willingly falls victim to a Dream Crab so he can enter Clara's dream and rescue her. Danny tells her that she must move on with her life, and they wake up, killing the creatures. The Doctor later deduces that the team members are actually the crew themselves, and they are in fact dreaming right now, further emphasised by the presence of Santa Claus. The team realise that the first word of the same page on the same book is different for them all, and they force themselves to wake up. Once they've "woken up", Clara realises they met Santa before arriving at the base, and therefore they are still dreaming. Santa assists them in waking up, taking them on his sleigh. Each person wakes up in a different place, revealing they never actually met in the first place. Clara stays on the sleigh for too long, and when the Doctor arrives to wake her up, she is revealed to have aged many years. Once again though, this is a dream, and the Doctor and Clara reunite for more adventures. On paper this looks like a typical overly confusing Moffat story but it's actually pretty brilliant. The Dream Crabs are fantastic villains and make for a thoroughly interesting watch, while also providing closure to the ending of Death In Heaven where the Doctor and Clara lie to each other. I didn't really see much point of bringing Danny back but it did make for a good dream scene nevertheless. I was sceptical of how they'd include Santa in the story but once again, it surprised me by how well it worked, and the final shot of a tangerine in the real world was a great image to end on. I don't actually rewatch this one much but it's Moffat's second best Christmas special for me, with only The Husbands of River Song left to come.
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://foreveryoungadult.com/_uploads/images2/dw-8x05-timeheist-5.jpg 63 Time Heist Series 8, Episode 5 Doctor: Twelfth Companion: Clara Oswald Also starring: Danny Pink The Doctor and Clara find themselves on an alien planet, and have no recollection of how they got there. They are there with a hacker called Psi, who has an augmented brain, and Saibra, a shapeshifter. They watch a recording of themselves agreeing to the short-term memory wipe, and are given a mission - to break into the Bank of Karabraxos and steal certain items. Using Saibra's shapeshifting abilities, they enter the bank as customers. A man who has been considering criminal activity in the bank is approached by Ms Delphox, who brings out the Teller, an alien prisoner which turns his brain into soup. As they delve further into the bank, they see more clues from the Architect who sent them there, including six personal disintegration units. They pass the Teller's room, and it locks onto Clara, who is instructed to keep her mind totally clear. Saibra becomes the target and uses the disintegration unit so she's not turned to soup. Ms Delphox releases the Teller later to chase them, and as it locks onto Psi, he also uses the disintegration unit. The Doctor and Clara manage to break into the vault in a moment where the bank is vulnerable due to solar flares - something planned to a tee by the Architect. They recover two items - a device to help Psi recall some lost memories, and a serum to help Saibra control her shapeshifting abilities. They are captured by Ms Delphox before they can retrieve the final items, but are rescued by Psi and Saibra who were actually teleported. The final thing they recover is in the Karabraxos vault, and there they find Madame Karabraxos, who looks exactly like Ms Delphox. She has cloned herself to run her own bank, and hides out below. She packs the most valuable items and tries to escape, leaving the Doctor and co to the Teller, but he gives her the phone number for the TARDIS to call when she is old and full of regret. With the help of the Teller, the Doctor recalls that the time heist was planned by an elderly Karabraxos, and planned by the Doctor, who himself was the Architect. The final item they retrieve is another Teller creature, and the Doctor saves them both, setting them free. This is one of the series 8 episodes with the most rewatchability I think, something which will play a part in the reasons behind why a lot of the forthcoming episodes are so high. The plot was interesting to follow and Keeley Hawes was excellent as Ms Delphox and Madame Karabraxos. The twists and turns, particularly the reveal of who the Architect was, were unpredictable for me and the Teller was pretty cool.
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/1-bells-of-saint-john-poster.jpg 62 The Bells of Saint John Series 7, Episode 6 Doctor: Eleventh Companion: Clara Oswald Clara calls for help with her wifi, getting through to a man called the Doctor, who arrives at her house. The number was revealed to have been given to her by "the woman in the shop", and it leads the Doctor to the original Clara at long last. After she clicks on the wrong wifi connection, she is uploaded to the cloud, but the Doctor manages to cancel the upload just in time and he keeps watch over her house. The people behind the upload cause a plane to crash, so the Doctor takes Clara to stop it, before they go to a cafe to figure out exactly what is happening. Clara tracks the uploaders to the Shard, before she is finally uploaded fully while Miss Kizlet distracts the Doctor. He rides a motorbike up the Shard and into her office, but it's revealed that this was actually the server that uploaded Clara, and it uploads Miss Kizlet. This forces her to demand a download for everyone, and it's revealed that she is working for the Great Intelligence, which reverts her mind to being that of a young child. Steven Moffat said this episode was possibly the most "average" episode of his tenure, and he was probably right really, it's a bog standard episode but that doesn't mean it's bad. It sets the scene for the rest of series 7B well and gives a good introduction to the original version of Clara, plus it does what Moffat does well by turning something ordinary (shadows, statues, cracks in walls) into something terrifying, this time it was wifi. The actual alien threat turned out to be a bit uninteresting in the end but it made for a good watch and it's certainly one of the better episodes of a hit and miss 7B!
May 3, 20178 yr Author  61 The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar Series 9, Episodes 1 and 2 Doctor: Twelfth Companion: Clara Oswald Also starring: Kate Stewart After every plane just stops in the sky, as if they'd been paused, Clara heads to UNIT to meet with Kate Stewart. There, they are contacted by Missy, who arranges a meeting with Clara to show her the Doctor's confession dial. She teleports herself and Clara to 1138, where the Doctor is hiding out, knowing his death is approaching. The three of them are tracked down by Colony Sarff, who takes them to what looks like a Dalek ship. The Doctor meets with Davros, while Clara and Missy attempt to escape, and find themselves on Skaro. They are captured and taken to the Daleks, where they appear to be exterminated while the Doctor watches on. Clara and Missy in fact escaped via a teleport, and are outside the Dalek city now. The Doctor refuses to believe they were killed and goes to meet the Supreme Dalek while sat in Davros' chair. The Supreme Dalek insists she is dead, and Colony Sarff recaptures the Doctor. Missy and Clara enter a Dalek "sewer", where decaying Daleks are left. They capture a Dalek and Missy gets Clara to sit inside, so they can infiltrate the city. Davros opens his natural eyes and wants to see the sunrise for the final time before his death, playing with the Doctor's emotions. The Doctor uses some of his regeneration power to help Davros, but this rejuvenates the entire Dalek race. Missy manages to escape the Supreme Dalek after going back there with Dalek Clara. The Doctor says he knew about the plan the whole time, and the sewer Daleks are revitalised too, breaking through the city to attack their own race. After they escape, Missy tries to convince the Doctor to leave Dalek Clara, but he rescues her and tells Missy to run, before she gets captured by the Daleks once again. Throughout the two episodes, we see the Doctor attempting to save young Davros, and at the end of the episode, thanks to Dalek Clara, we see him teach young Davros the word "mercy", because it's what saves her life. I actually bumped this one up a few spots last minute as I felt I was being a bit too harsh. Ultimately, this is a pretty great opening two-parter packed with some really excellent moments, notably most of the Doctor/Davros scenes and Missy's initial meeting with Clara. It's not perfect though - the pacing of the first episode is all over the place, and they waste far too much time on the Doctor's guitar stuff. The Daleks are severely underused and actually a bit RUBBISH throughout, and it's very continuity heavy. Nevertheless, the main cast are all superb, including Michelle Gomez who is always a joy as Missy. Her trying to get the Doctor to destroy Dalek Clara was a great moment, especially when he realised she was lying to him. I also loved the surprise of Davros' return!
May 3, 20178 yr Author THE TOP 60 Aliens of London / World War Three Amy’s Choice Army of Ghosts / Doomsday Asylum of the Daleks Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways Blink Boom Town Dalek Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks Dark Water / Death in Heaven Deep Breath Face the Raven Father’s Day Flatline Gridlock Heaven Sent Human Nature / The Family of Blood Listen Midnight Mummy on the Orient Express Partners in Crime Planet of the Dead Planet of the Ood Rise of the Cybermen / Age of Steel Rose School Reunion Silence of the Library / Forest of the Dead Smith and Jones The Angels Take Manhattan The Christmas Invasion The Day of the Doctor The Doctor’s Daughter The Eleventh Hour The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances The End of the World The End of Time Pts 1 and 2 The Fires of Pompeii The Girl in the Fireplace The Girl Who Waited The God Complex The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood The Husbands of River Song The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit The Lazarus Experiment The Lodger The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang The Power of Three The Runaway Bride The Shakespeare Code The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone The Time of the Doctor The Unicorn and the Wasp The Waters of Mars The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion Turn Left Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords Vincent and the Doctor Voyage of the Damned Everything left is great but which episodes do you want out next?
May 3, 20178 yr I agree that Before the Flood was quite disappointing ointing in comparison to Under the Lake! The first one had a really great build up albeit a bit slow but then the second lacked the impact in terms of the villain and other elements. The bootstrap paradox was quite a good idea though and the sequence with the ghost coming after the deaf character was fantastic! Overall, there was maybe a bit too much running back and forth though, I got so tired of them going lets go back to the Faraday chamber (?) by the end!  The Rebel Flesh was another great idea, especially with all the moral discussions! I agree that Jennifer's character was basically ALL over the place though which didn't really sit that well.  Last Christmas is fantastic, my favourite Christmas ep and it should be much higher! I was initally put off at the fact Santa was in it but he's a great plot point in the context of it all. I had no idea where it was going and loved all the twists and turns with the Dream crabs being really great monsters and actually quite creepy! Shona was also fantastic and I was gutted at her ending. Again, the parts with Danny were the only real disappointment. Time Heist was a fun episode, fell a tiny bit flat for me but I can't really put my finger on why. It was a great concept amd Keeley Hawes is always fantastic. The Bells of Saint John is just like the rest of 7B. Should be good but falls flat. Particularly in regards to the villain/threat this time. It was obviously trying to do a Rose/Partners in Crime style episode but it didn't really work out. The Witch's Familiar is an absolutely fantastic episode but it is really let down by the preceding episode. I really hated that whole medieval, guitar, tank segment and the episode is just filling time until that cliffhanger really. TWF really is fantastic though, brilliant dialogue between Davros and the Doctor and Missy and Clara together was so good, especially Clara in the TARDIS was incredibly tense!
May 3, 20178 yr Last Christmas was my favourite Christmas special, did well to divert from the traditionally light hearted tone to add something a lot darker and more mind-bending, certainly not what I expected when I saw Nick Frost playing Santa! A lot of Season 9's two parters suffered from a fantastic opener and a disappointing closing, those being no exception! The Zygon one thankfully got it right both times. Very good selection, but these all need to leave soon: Aliens of London / World War Three Boom Town Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks
May 3, 20178 yr Aliens of London / World War Three Boom Town Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks Yes on those two parters (some of the worst 2-parters ever done) but no for Boom Town, that was a surprisingly fun little outing, still holds up in my mind. I sort of care for the ganger 2-parter as it was fairly in the classic Who group of people is trapped style but it was still not the best of that sort of thing.
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://i.imgur.com/DQhkypA.jpg 60 Boom Town Series 1, Episode 11 Doctor: Ninth Companion: Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness Also starring: Mickey Smith Your wish is my command Chez :kink: Boom Town saw the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack make a pit-stop in Cardiff, with Rose calling Mickey so he could bring her passport. The tone of the episode is pretty light-hearted until the Doctor spots a familiar face in the newspaper - not only is she alive, but Margaret Blaine is the Mayor of Cardiff. After managing to corner her, they plan to take her back to Raxacoricofallapatorious, despite the fact she'd be executed for her crimes. She introduces them to the Blaidd Drwg ("bad wolf") project, where the Doctor and Jack find an extrapolator, or a "pan-dimensional surfboard", which Margaret was going to ride into space after blowing up the planet. Margaret requests one final dinner, so she goes to eat with the Doctor, trying to kill him a few times but being outsmarted each and every time. Meanwhile, Rose and Mickey go for a walk, and when Rose discovers Mickey has a new girlfriend, she's less than impressed, not having considered the impact her travels with the Doctor will have had on Mickey. After Jack's meddling with the extrapolator causes the rift to open, Margaret reveals that was her plan B all along, and, holding Rose hostage, she plans to leave on the extrapolator still. However, the heart of the TARDIS is pulled open, and it regresses her back to being an egg. I actually considered this one of my least favourite episodes for a while. Understandable I guess, it's not the most monster-heavy episode and as a kid, I certainly cared more for those moments than the character moments. However, with many rewatches, and the fact I'm reading the script right now, it's really pretty excellent for what is just a filler low-budget episode before the huge finale. The TARDIS team enjoying a quiet moment near the beginning is really fun to watch, while Annette Badland is a joy as Margaret. The plot isn't the best ever but nonetheless, it's a way more enjoyable episode than I used to think and it does a really solid job.
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://www.standbyformindcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/deepbreath1_3015903b.jpg 59 Deep Breath Series 8, Episode 1 Doctor: Twelfth Companion: Clara Oswald Also starring: Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, Strax, Eleventh Doctor Capaldi's first outing saw the TARDIS being coughed up.... by a dinosaur in the Thames. Start as you mean to go on :lol: Vastra, Jenny and Strax are surprised to see a newly regenerated Doctor, but not half as much as Clara, who struggles to accept her friend's new face. The Doctor recovers in bed before making a run for it, just in time to see the dinosaur being incinerated by the authorities. He runs off once again, leaving Clara worried. She eventually spots an advert in the paper for a meeting location, after he's found a new outfit courtesy of a tramp. They realise they're surrounded by humanoid robots, and are descended into a lair. The Doctor realises that he is a cyborg, and they head off to investigate further, but the Doctor and Clara are separated as the cyborgs begin to wake up. To survive, Clara has to act like a cyborg, holding her breath, but she struggles and is captured. The Doctor manages to save her, and along with the Paternoster gang, fights off the cyborg army. The Doctor follows the leader, the half-faced man, back up to the restaurant area, as the restaurant takes off as a ship. The Doctor warns him that he will have to end his own life, or be killed to save the people below. We see the half-faced man fall to his death, but we do not know whether he jumped or was pushed. Clara receives a phone call from the Eleventh Doctor, just before he regenerated, confirming it is him and asking her to move on with his new incarnation. Deep Breath is a tad messy in places, and the dinosaur was totally unnecessary, but otherwise I think it made for a good introduction to Capaldi's Doctor. It was a nice surprise to see the clockwork robots return from The Girl in the Fireplace even if they didn't feel quite as scary this time, and the final scene with the Eleventh Doctor was a lovely touch. Strax provided some excellent comedy moments and I once again thoroughly enjoyed the presence of the Paternoster gang. I'm not sure it really needed to be quite the length it was but it was mostly enjoyable!
May 3, 20178 yr Any episodes involving the Slitheen were just awful :( I mean I know they were supposed to be repulsive, but that didn't make them any less lazy! Right down there with the Absorbaloff.  Â
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://i.imgur.com/U8wIeB5.jpg 58 Planet of the Dead 2009 Easter Special Doctor: Tenth Companion: Lady Christina de Souza We meet Lady Christina de Souza at the start of this episode, stealing a valuable golden chalice from a London museum. With the police in pursuit, she hops onto a London bus and meets the Doctor. The bus is transported through a wormhole, landing on a desert planet many miles away. Together, with the other passengers - Angela, Nathan, Barclay and couple Lou and Carmen - they work to find a solution to get the bus back through the wormhole. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Christina meet a stranded ship belonging to a couple of Tritovores. Christina retrieves a diamond with metal clamps attached to it, but it almost caught by a deadly metal stingray, many of which are fast approaching the bus. The Doctor explains that they devour entire planets, while creating energy to power a wormhole that can transport them to the next planet. The Doctor asks for the help of UNIT scientist Malcolm, who works to find a solution to close the wormhole after they return to Earth. The Doctor and Christina manage to fly the bus back through in the nick of time, with a few stingrays following them through. UNIT shoot them down and Malcolm closes the wormhole. The Doctor helps Christina escape the police, and she flies the bus away. I found this a really nice fun adventure before the pretty heavy episodes that were to follow later in the year. Christina was very likeable I found and the supporting cast were good too, and the Tritovores were utilised well. Malcolm was on the verge of being annoying but thankfully I found him pretty amusing, and it was good to see Captain Magambo again after Turn Left. The flying bus was a bit silly but the crashed bus in the middle of the desert made for an excellent aesthetic! Solid episode overall.
May 3, 20178 yr I am Clara Oswald! I am a Dalek! Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar was a great episode
May 3, 20178 yr Thatbfirst capald one was saved by all rhe other characters in it. That one with Aunt Babe wasn't great. Can't remember that bus one.
May 3, 20178 yr Author http://www.kreweduwho.com/Portals/0/EasyDNNNews/64/600600p468EDNmain64listen.jpg 57 Listen Series 8, Episode 4 Doctor: Twelfth Companion: Clara Oswald Also starring: Danny Pink In Listen, we see Clara on her first date with Danny, but they get off on the wrong foot and offend each other when it comes to a discussion about Danny's military history. Clara returns home to find the Doctor, who wants her help to figure out why everyone in the universe has the same bad dream - a hand reaching out from under the bed and grabbing your foot. He uses the TARDIS' telepathic link with Clara, to take them back to her youth, but her mind is a mess after the date with Danny and instead it takes them to his personal history, when he went by his birth name of Rupert. Rupert is scared of something under his bed - a creature that scampered out from underneath when they looked away. Clara suggests that he places his toy soldiers around his bed to protect himself, subconsciously giving him the idea of joining the military when he's older. After this, Clara returns to her date and patches things up with Danny, but accidentally reveals knowledge of his past that he had not shared with her, and he leaves. The Doctor then introduces her to Orson Pink - one of Danny's descendants who became stranded at the end of time. Orson possesses one of Danny's old soldier toys and gives it to Clara. They go back to the end of time and are faced up against a creature that represents fear. The Doctor faces this entity alone but Orson has to rescue him when the air containment facility is breached and he is rendered unconscious. They try to return to Clara's time again, but are taken to a barn. Clara finds a child crying alone in his bed, and hides underneath when she hears people coming. She later finds out that it is the Doctor, and when he gets up to leave the bed after the adults have gone, she reaches her hand out to grab his leg so he doesn't meet his future self. She reassures him not to be scared and that he is dreaming, so he returns to bed and Clara makes the older Doctor promise to never look where they were. This episode involves a lot, but the pace never feels rushed or confusing at any point, which is pretty great considering everything that happens. Danny was never a favourite character of mine but I quite enjoyed his story with Clara in this episode, and the fact we never really saw a proper alien threat didn't bother me. The twist of Clara planting the bad dream of the monster-under-bed into the Doctor's head was an excellent twist I thought! This is definitely an example of where a bit of experimenting in Who can pay off, and whilst it's not one I rewatch often, it's certainly an episode that paid off for me.
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