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FishyFish

By FishyFish
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HarMGM

HarMGM

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I've read some of the first and second script. The series opener is set to be just as long as the 50th according to the script. Quite big.

the second script is easily the best use of the daleks since 'Dalek'.

On another note: I feel comfortable in saying that Sprite Machine will not like this Doctor.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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The Beast Below

(Blog has pictures)

The Doctor takes Amy into space, the 29th century, where solar flares have forced humanity to vacate the Earth and travel the stars in massive ark ships the size of cities. It's a quaint little setup in which the whole of the UK (minus Scotland, guffaw!) gets its own ship, its many decks separated into counties and the tenth Queen Elizabeth ruling over it all. But, naturally, bad stuff is happening and the Doctor has to fix it.

[Picture: Starship UK. Caution: may contain Surrey.]

I had, perhaps naively, expected all of Steven Moffat's scripts to be as good as his efforts in past seasons, but that was never going to happen. The Beast Below is no classic, but it's got Moffat's signature traits, including bags of imagination, creepy mechanical men and characters receiving forgotten messages from themselves. Despite the story taking place in an out-of-this-world setting, it feels close to home, familiar and relatable (children going to school and London Underground signs around the deck lifts). In terms of writing, it's pretty sharp, and the two new leads slot effortlessly into their roles, but some of the friction when they disagree comes across a little forced at this early a stage. Then there's the odd cringeworthy moment, like when Liz 10 says that she "rules". Groan.

[Picture: "I'm the bloody queen, mate!"]

On a broader note, why is it so unbelievable that a ship could float by itself through space without an engine? I'm no physicist, but without anything to cause drag, couldn't any mass continue through space on just inertia? The trick with the glasses of water is clever in itself, but it often feels like the Doctor leaps to conclusions (and knows everything about everything) and happens upon the answers straight away just to show off how clever he is. Everyone also makes huge assumptions about what would happen if the Star Whale were set free, even the Doctor, to the point of killing it! Nobody considers that it might not actually doom the UK population, except for Amy because, again, it needs to show how clever she is. I get that it's supposed to show the Doctor can make mistakes and needs somebody with him, but it's contrived.

[Picture: Trapped inside the Star Whale's mouth, the Doctor instigates a gag reflex.]

The Beast Below has all the right ingredients but doesn't quite know what to do with them. Once revealed that the oppressed nation is a self-imposed necessary evil, the creepy mannequins don't make much sense anymore (and half-human robot mannequins make even less sense; why throw that in?). The central theme of exploitation and the "greater good" is perfectly fine but leaves too many questions. The strengths of the episode are in its individual ideas and the drama that emerges as a result. It's a solid effort nevertheless.

[Picture: Was anybody else bothered by the way the clearly two-faced 'Smilers' actually had about four faces?]

Meanwhile, that mysterious crack is following Amy, and the Doctor gets a call from Winston Churchill...

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Hexx

Hexx

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Well I thought that was pretty...meh.

I'll break spoilers into 2 bits - first is general themes/styles, second is proper story spoilers

I actually watched the 11th Hour recently and it did a much better of a) introducing the new Doctor, establishing who he was, and exciting your for adventures to come. It also felt quite magical "fairytale"-ish, where as this just...bland. (B&W, bad cgi and some missing music might have contributed).

This, basically, didn't seem to be about the Doctor. It was about how super-special Clara (whom characters shill at many opportunities) sees this new Doctor. But it spends so much time of her, her reactions, her feelings and pushing the "He needs YOU" angle that 12 doesn't get enough time to establish himself.

It doesn't help with the script they introduce him with 10 in The Christmas Invasion had much less screen time than 12 but defined him self well. I think it's because they're pushing the 12 "doesn't remember the Doctor properly/is something new", that they spend so much time telling us what he isn't, rather than who he is.

Also a bit jarring after the last few episodes have pushed the "same software, different face", "the doctor is a promise" continuity angle.

Lots of Moffatisms in here as well - too many ideas, characters noticing something that changes the scenes, repeat noises for scares, characters sending messages to others at different time periods, etc

(PLOT SPOILERS NOW!)

The flesh robots were annoying personally, rather than a nice call back. Felt like Moffat reusing a popular idea, although to a much less effective impact. The constant "I remember something like this", "Oh a sister ship" weren't cute - they just constantly reminded you of a much better episode with this basis.

As mentioned above Clara shilling got annoying, and 12s "I'm not your boyfriend/That wasn't your mistake" was the icing on the cake. So Clara's so magic even 11 loved her. GAHHHH

11's telephone call seemed out of the blue. I wonder how late that was inserted into the script - seemed like it was the main reason Clara stayed, as the rest of the episode hadn't really shown she was going to. Also robbed the power of 11s real goodbye...didn't like that at all. There was absolutely no reason for the call - he had ages to TELL her that during the regeneration, he even started explaining "her comes the Doctor" - it didn't need breaking in 2, other than this script needed it. It really felt like a quick patch job for a really poorly written episode.

The Scotlish, "I'll probably blame the English" stuff seemed funny, but might cause some strong reactions.

And the stinger...not really sure what to make of it. Heaven? "Missy"? Another smug older woman who the Doctor "loves?"

Overall - a bit concerned :(

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HarMGM

HarMGM

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Sorry Hexx, but your 'meh' reaction is completely opposite of mine.

If you don't want to know what the episode is about, don't worry. I won't spoil anything of the plot. Just a few impressions. So nothing to serious that you'll never forgive yourself from clicking on the spoiler button. Anyway, Capaldi is wonderfull. Clara finally becomes a character and the villians are, while familiar, given a much darker spin with the inclusion of some old-school body horror. The interplay and chemistry between Capaldi and Jenna Coleman is far better then between Smith and Coleman. In fact the way they play off one another just makes you wonder why they didn't just make this Clara's introduction episode considering her relationship with 11 just felt so flat.

I'd agree with Hexx that 'Deep Breath' doesn't touch 'The Eleventh Hour' by a long shot. 'Deep Breath' sags right from the start which is a real shame considering how much the episode lives up the moment Clara and the Doctor meet up in a restaurant. I could be dissappointed with that, angry even, that the people who brought us Matt Smith's introduction four years ago haven't been able to hit same high ever since. But then before 'The Eleventh Hour', the strongest opening Doctor story was still 'Spearhead from Space' with John Pertwee .

I don't understand the blandness complaint either because of how dark the overall mood is. And when I say dark, I mean it in the sense that the 'fairytale' aspect has been traded in for something a bit grimier and certainly more violent. It definately feels as if this series is going for something different then the last 3 series. It also doesn't feel as if the sonic screwdriver can just magically bring people back to life agiain like in the last series. There's also some moments of pretty big tension which I certainly welcomed.

I'm not utterly in love with the episode, outside of Capaldi, Coleman and the villians nothing ever really manages to hit those highs. A bit of a shame then because so much of the screentime is spent on other people besides the Doctor and Clara. But for now i'd put it firmly in the 'decent opener' category alongside 'Robot' and 'Castrovalva'.

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Hexx

Hexx

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Fair enough - I agree entirely that it massively picks up from the scene described onwards - and it definately does feel like it's going to be something different thematically (whether that's good or bad) than what's gone before.

12 in the last 10 minutes or so was very good, and was the type of steely gravely INTENSITY I was hoping for...just wish some of the oddity and "comedy" from earlier wasn't there.

Thinking more about it, there's probably a very good episode there if you edit about about 15min from the first half...

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Victory of the Daleks

(Blog has pictures)

The Daleks have always been a not-so-subtle allegory for Nazi Germany, the "master race" wanting to purify the species and take control of everything, so it was inevitable that they'd feature in an actual WWII episode eventually. Winston Churchill's war room has supposedly built these new weapons, which Professor Bracewell calls "Ironsides", but obviously the Daleks have their own plans and their loyal servant routine is just a facade. While the Doctor spends much of the episode trying to persuade Churchill that the Daleks are remorseless creatures with an ulterior motive, I was reminded of the rather excellent 'Power of the Daleks', in which much the same thing happens. Unfortunately, this episode doesn't handle it so effectively and the story is pretty much nonsense.

[Picture: The Doctor, Amy and a not entirely convincing Churchill.]

So, the last of the last of the last (really, this time!) of the Daleks, having slipped back through time, have found a special Dalek-growing device that will reboot the entire race, but they're not pure enough to activate it, so they need to construct an implausible scenario where the Doctor will inadvertently confirm the Daleks' identity to the Progenator Device, by building an android scientist (Bracewell) and infiltrating the London war room during the blitz. Ooooo—kay. After their plan actually works, they attack London indirectly by turning its lights on during a blackout, but we then learn they could have blown the Earth up with the bomb inside Robo-Bracewell anyway, so what was the point of that? And I don't care how advanced he is, there's no way he could have built spaceworthy Spitfires and trained pilots to fly them in ten minutes. That's just ridiculous.

[Picture: The bomb is deactivated using the power of love. Sigh.]

The episode does have its strengths, however. When the Daleks are playing their role as slaves, they're arguably more menacing than when they're being up-front and honest. They certainly get the Doctor nervous. Servant Daleks asking people if they want tea in loud Dalek voices, and, later, the Doctor bluffing his way onto their ship using a jammy dodger, are examples of the British humour that permeates the show in its more whimsical moments. It's also interesting that the Daleks actually sort of win this time. Finally, there's the added mystery about the crack, which now appears to have removed memories of the previous Dalek invasions from Amy's mind, or possibly erased the events themselves. Intriguing.

[Picture: "WE ARE THE NEW DALEKS. PLEASE TAKE US TO THE CHECKOUT. LIMIT ONE PER CUSTOMER."]

Ultimately, though, the plot is flimsy, purely a setup for the new Daleks (who were wasted on a mediocre adventure game released around the same time) and, presumably, an excuse to sell a colourful range of toys. Shameless!

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Zio

Zio

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God those new Daleks looked shit. I was pretty glad when they only really showed up for that shitty game and seem to stay in the background in the TV series. That whole episode felt like a 45-minute toy commercial. So much more could've been done with Daleks in a WWII scenario.

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Darren

Darren

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I think they were wrong-footed by the almost completely negative reaction to the new Daleks. Presumably the idea was to "reboot" them by replacing the old design but ever since this episode the new ones have only ever shown up sporadically, and interspersed amongst all the older ones (like in the Dalek Parliament episode). In trying to get away from RTD's mess Moffat & Gatiss only made things worse!

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Darren

Darren

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I don't mind the design, it's the shape that's all wrong, as is obvious by that photo. They should have used all the new elements (primary colours, black dots, that hatchback thing, the two horizontal bands in place of all those vertical strips, the weird overlapping grill things, and the new eye) but put them onto the traditional shape. Best of both worlds.

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Zio

Zio

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I remember reading that part of the reason for the redesign was down to how tall Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are, and how they dwarfed the existing Daleks. But those things look shit. It is just the shape though really. I have a completely irrational hatred of their hunchbacks.

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