TV Reviews - Doctor Who 908: The Zygon Inversion

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 907: The Zygon Invasion

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 905 and 906: The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 904: Before the Flood

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 903: Under the Lake

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 902: The Witch's Familiar

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 901: The Magician's Apprentice

TV Reviews - Doctor Who Christmas Special 2014: Last Christmas

So I’m basically throwing my very recently decided-upon schedule out the window by now, but at least I’m adhering to the spirit of the schedule by updating when I can. So yeah, Last Christmas by Steven Moffet.

Overview - The Twelfth Doctor

So I know I said that this was coming a long time ago, and then I put it off, and put it off, and put it off. I just couldn't find my voice on this one (I'm also lazy...). No matter the things that I disliked about this latest Series of the long-running scifi adventure show, I found it difficult to talk negatively about the Doctor in any real way, and spoilers: there will be negatives in this overview, very strong ones. Finally, however, any other projects which have been vying for my attention have been relegated to the back of my mind, and I have come up with what I think is a pretty concrete way to analyze the character of the Doctor in any of his forms. I call it The TARDIS Test.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0811 and 0812: Dark Water and Death in Heaven

We already talked about the first part of this episode last week, but what came last week isn't what I would call a review. I'd call it something akin to a summary of points of interest, and interesting those points were. Between the revelation that Missy is the Master, and the startling scene where Clara betrays the Doctor, Dark Water was probably the first really memorable lore episode of the Series. Of course, this week, we will be looking deeper into that episode, and taking a look at the second as well, so we should probably start out be elaborating on some of the points that I made earlier.

Doctor Who Series 8 Finale Update

So part one of the Doctor Who Series 8 finale was tonight, and it was pretty cool. It tied up a lot of the loose ends that have been left unraveled through the Missy ending scenes of several episodes since the start of the series, and even revealed the identity of the mysterious character. I will not be reviewing the episode here, but will be waiting for part two and reviewing them together. I will talk about a few interesting things from this episode, however, after the jump. As always, spoilers ahead.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0810: In The Forest of the Night

This week we have yet another Series 8 Doctor Who episode entitled The Happening...er...I mean In the Forest of the Night. Okay fine, not a good comparison. After all, in The Happening the trees actually were trying to kill everyone, while in this episode we only think that they are. Still, these two stories do have something in common: they are both really dumb.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0809: Flatline

Another week, and another Doctor Who, and just as I thought, this one was pretty intense. Where last week's episode was more intriguing, this one had that air of desperation that was often characteristic of Matt Smith's time on the show, mixed with some intellectualism. It was a very interesting mix, but did it succeed as a Who episode?

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0808: Mummy on the Orient Express

So I mistakenly thought that this episode was the mid-series finale, but I was wrong. That episode, Clara's final episode (as far as I understand), is still in the (near-ish) future. My bad. Just FYI.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0807: Kill the Moon

This was a Doctor Who episode about abortion.

Oh boy, this is gonna be fun.

 

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0806: The Caretaker

It's Doctor Who night again, and this episode was really something special. Finally, finally, the Doctor meets Clara's boyfriend Danny Pink. I will admit that I wasn't really super excited to see this happen (I wanted to see it, but not, like, really badly or anything), I just wanted one of Moffat's new storylines to progress a little bit. Seeing as that's what I wanted out of this episode, I'd say I got what I wanted, though I'm on the fence as to whether or not that's a good thing.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0805: Time Heist

Another week, and another episode of Doctor Who. Not for the first time this series, this episode has me divided. On one hand, it is again a Moffat episode, but on the other it is co-written by Stephen Thompson...who hasn't really written any Doctor Who episodes that I've actually liked very much. He wrote Curse of the Black Spot, which I'm completely indifferent about, aside from the cool pirates, and Journey to the Center of the TARDIS, which I'm pretty much completely indifferent about with no exceptions, as almost everything in the episode contradicts what the rest of the franchise has established about said vehicle, and felt like it only existed to add another layer to the "Clara is strange" plot that had already started to get old. I have long since felt that neither of these episodes needed to exist. Did I think the same of this episode? Perhaps. Read on to find out.

 

 

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0804: Listen

So this is going to be a different kind of Doctor Who review than the last few have been, in that it will probably be more typical of my Doctor Who reviews overall. Where the past few reviews have been very lengthy and in-depth with deep analysis, this one will be simpler and more concise, because really less happens in this episode than in the past couple. Don't, however, take that to mean that this episode is not good, because the quickie review is that I quite enjoyed this episode. It was good right off the bat, with a great payoff that didn't advance the plot of the series, but ended up being a good look at the Doctor's overall character and expanding the overall mythos of the show. Also, before we get going with this thing, be aware that there will be spoilers, not just for this episode, but for the franchise lore.

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0803: Robots of Sherwood

I mentioned last week that putting a Dalek episode so soon after the very different Series 8 premier was a smart play on Moffat's part, due to the popularity of said monsters, but I never said that is was the right move. The new Doctor this series, as played by Peter Capaldi, is not just new in that he has a new face, he is new in that he seems to be taking his life more seriously than the previous few Doctors have, and that is very new for the common viewer these days. I have mentioned that Moffat seems to be taking Doctor Who back to its roots as serious SciFi drama mixed with historically-based stories, forgoing a lot of the humor that the series has come to be known for in recent years. I don't really think that this is a bad idea, but putting two such heavy stories as Deep Breath and Into the Dalek back to back, I think, was a mistake. If it had been me, I would have put this episode second in the series, and, in fact, I think it actually fits better there anyway.

 

TV Reviews - Doctor Who 0802: Into the Dalek

Another Saturday, and another episode of Doctor Who Series 8. To appease those who might be put off by the rather unconventional series premier, the second episode featured the most popular, prolific, and dangerous of the Doctor's enemies, the Daleks. One who is unfamiliar with the Whoniverse likely finds the Daleks a bit silly, seeing as how they are basically tall kitchen garbage cans with a plunger sticking out of them, and I have my own opinion on the Daleks that I will get into later, but it cannot be argued that a majority of Whovians love these guys, and Dalek stories being pretty conventional Who, it was a pretty good move on Moffat's part to put this episode where he did to keep younger fans hooked. But did this succeed or not?