Doctor Who-The Caretaker. Series 8-Episode 6

The Caretaker

Written by Gareth Roberts (Although Stephen Moffat is also credited)

Synopis

The Doctor goes on an secret undercover mission at Coal Hill school, in orderto rid the world of the Skovox Blitzer. A deadly robot lured there by high levels of 'Artron emissions' and who has enough firepower to destroy the planet.' His clever disguise? What, didn't you read the title?

Review

Clara is finding it difficult balancing her life as a Time Travelling Companion and the girlfriend of Danny Pink. A man who always looks like he's on the verge of bursting into tears at any moment. 

The Doctor, aware that she is dating someone and in a case of mistaken identity, believes it to be the Matt Smith look-alike teacher (if Matt Smith's Doctor was five foot six, stocky and a geek) and is angered when he discovers that it is in fact, ex solider Danny believing him to be nothing more than a P.E teacher.

The Doctor wearing a clever disguise. Bet you didn't recognize him.

The Doctor has been hard at work (not like my caretaker then) planting devices around the school, hoping to lure the Skovox Blitzer, which resembles a radio controlled toy and doesn't look remotely capable of blowing up an entire planet, into a time vortex that will place him a billion years into the future. But Danny, stumbling upon the devices, inadvertently ruins the whole operation and the Skovox Blitzer is only placed 74 hours into the future instead. The Doctor now had just 3 days to complete his mission, but the deadly robot reappears ahead of time, right in the middle of Parent's Evening.

The Doctor wearing a clever disguise. Oh no sorry, that's the Skvovox Blitzer.

There's some stuff about the Danny working out that the reason for the Time Lord's disdain towards him, is that he doesn't think that he is good enough for Clara and that's about it. We also meet up with Courtney who doesn't seem fazed by the fact that the caretaker is also time traveller.

As with so many of the recent Doctor Who series, the trailers tantalize us with images of a new monster, who really doesn't feature in the episode until near the end, with the odd appearances in between. We never fully get to grips with these new creations such as The Shakri, Abzorborloff, The Smilers and The Robots of Sherwood, to name but a few.

All in all, it was an an enjoyable episode, Oh, and Missy is back.

Time Heist, Series 8-Episode 5

Time Heist

Written by Steve Thompson/Stephen Moffat

Synopsis

"This is a recorded message. Interaction is not possible. The last clear memory of anyone in this room is of receiving a contact from an unknown agency. I am that agency. The details of what has happened since, have been erased from your minds for your own protection. 
Pay close attention to the following briefing. 
This is the bank of Karabraxos. The most dangerous bank in the galaxy. A fortress for the super rich. If you could afford your own star system, this is where you keep it. No one sets foot on the planet without protocols. All movement is monitored. All air consumption regulated on pain of death. DNA is authenticated at every stage. Even your unauthorized presence on this planet will have been detected. Your lives are in danger. The bank of Karabroxos is protected by the deadliest security system ever devised. Today you are going to rob the bank of Karabraxos. 
Welcome to the heist."

Along with a Cyber Augmented Gamer (Psi) and human-mutant shapeshifter (Saibra), the Doctor and Clara are instructed by the mysterious Architect to break into Karabraxos, one of the most secure and dangerous banks in the universe and face the terrifying 'Teller.'

The intrepid gang outside the bank of Karabraxos

Psi

Saibra

What is it about Moffat and his telling people what not do do? First there's "Don't Blink" (Blink),
"Don't breathe" (Deep Breaths), "Don't look/Don't turn your head" (Listen) and in Time heist, "Don't think."

The memory worm...er...what was I writing again?

After having their memories wiped by memory worms, (first used in the 2012 Christmas special The Snowmen) the Doctor, Clara, Psi and Saibra find themselves in the depths of  Bank Karabraxos, with no idea how they got there. Listening to a recording left by the Architect, they discover that each of them had not only agreed to have their memories wiped but to also take part in the heist. But first they have to get past the Teller, an alien that is able to detect a person's guilt and then feed upon it.

The Teller

The result of the Teller having Guilt for breakfast

 Ms Delphox, Head of Karabraxos and keeper of the Teller (Keeley Hawes), makes an excellent villainous. This woman is so cold, she could make a Polar Bear freeze. Apart from the Master and Davros, the female villains always seem more evil in their intent, or intent in their evil. Think Madame Kovarian, or Ms Hartigan.

Ms Delphox. As cold as a Penguin's posterior 

So far, this had been one of the most enjoyable episodes. I particularly enjoyed the measures such as not being able to enter a room without a breath reading and the visual appeal of the Teller, though I thought that he had a kind of sadness about him.

(Spoiler Alert) My only complaint is the end scene where the Teller is freed and walks away with his mate, which is very much like the ending to the 2013 episode Hide in which 'the crooked man' finds it's mate and walk off like a romance novel, into the sunset.

Doctor Who, An Oddity Through Time And Space - #1The Thyme Lord

For today's Doctor Who, An Oddity Through Time And Space, yeah, that's what I'm calling it, The Doctor shows that not only is he the saviour of worlds, but that he also has the culinary skills of  Heston Blumenthal...without the food poisoning.

Listen Series 8 - Episode Four

Listen: Series 8 -Episode Four

Written by Steven Moffat

Synopsis:

(Doctor talking out loud to self, whilst writing notes on a chalkboard)

"Question - Why do we talk out loud when we know we're not alone?"

Conjecture -  Because we know we're not.

Question - Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding.

Answer - How would you know? Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed? It could be with us every second and we would never know. How would you detect it? Even sense it? Except for those moments when for no clear reason, you choose to speak aloud. What would such a creature want? What would it do? Well? What would you do?!"

(Answer appears on chalkboard) "Listen"

Listen deals with the emotion of fear. And what is more fearful than that which lurks beneath your bed at night?

Review:

After a disastrous first date with soldier now turned teacher, Danny Pink, (who seems to be a bit fond of bashing his head against hard surfaces) the Doctor asks Clara for a favour. He asks her if she has ever had a dream in which there is someone else in the room and that when you sit up, you are then grabbed by the ankle. Apparently it's a universal dream which everyone including the Doctor has experienced. Er, I haven't.

In order to prove that this is true, the Doctor uses Clara's time-line to go back to the moment of experiencing the 'thing under the bed'. But being connected to the TARDIS, Clara becomes distracted by thoughts of Danny and they end up in front of a children's home somewhere in the 90s, where they encounter Danny, formerly Rupert Pink as a young child.

The Doctor and a young Danny

Whilst the Timelord questions the caretaker of the home about the spooky going ons of the house, Clara finds Rupert/Danny sitting on the floor of his bedroom, afraid of what might be under the bed. Of course Clara proves to him that there is nothing there at all. But what is that lurking on top of the bed?

There may not be monsters lurking under the bed, but what about on top of the bed?

There's a lot going on in this episode. With it's dark and scary overtones, it's a story that is very much reminiscent of Blink. We meet Orson Pink 100 years into the future, a time traveller who has been stranded on the last planet in the universe. But has he been truly alone all this time? And from the story that progresses, it seems likely that Orson is a distant relative of Clara and Danny, suggesting that at some point in the future, the two of them get together. We also discover that the Doctor is scared of that dark and learn that Clara was the hand that grab the child Timelord, which made him scared of the dark in the first place...or does she?

Clara scaring the bejeezus out of the possible Doctor

The scene is which Clara is seen to be consoling the young Doctor is a fascinating one. Not least because it involves the barn where the War Doctor (John Hurt) ended up in the 50th Anniversary Special The Day Of The Doctor, as he contemplated wiping out ending the Time War by effectively blowing up his birthplace of Gallifrey.
Also in the same scene, as the young boy cries, we hear to adults discussing why he cannot sleep with the other boys instead choosing to sleep in the barn, with the male arguing that he would never be a Timelord. As Whovians know, every Timelord is a Gallifreyan but not every Gallifreyan is a Timelord.

The War Doctor

The flaw in this plot-line however, is that Gallifrey is in a time-lock and so cannot be traversed through time and space travel. So were they really on Gallifrey and was that really the young Doctor?

Overall, I thought it was a good but not great episode, with the most interesting bits being the end scenes.

Weeping Angel Cat

In a galaxy far far away and just off the A14, lurks a predatory race of quantum locked felines who feed off the potential energy of years that it's victims would have lived, as well as Whiskas  Ocean white fish and tuna dinner known for it's chunky meaty goodness.

Don't blink. Don't turn your back. Don't dangle a piece of string in front of it's face. Don't blink and don't mess with it's squeaking toy mouse. Good luck.

Robot Of Sherwood. Series 8 - Episode Three

Synopsis:

If you could go anywhere in time and space, which period would you choose? For Clara Oswald, the answer is simple. Sherwood Forest, 1190.

The Doctor not believing that Robin, is anything other than the stuff of legends, soon finds himself up against the Sheriff of Nottingham, robot Knights and Robin Hood himself.

Robin Hood and Doctor Who-od. Well I thought it was funny.

Review:

If Robin Earl of Loxley, aka Robin Hood, were a real person as portrayed in this episode, there would be countless men, women and children up and down the country, who would suddenly have the urge to pick up a sharp weapon and beat the spleen out of his still warm carcass.

I'm not sure who was most annoyed by all the hearty "ha ha hazzahs" thrown about by Robin and his Merry Men, me, or the Doctor. But at a push, I'd say me.

Look at that face. Someone hand me a baseball bat!

Robot of Sherwood  sees the TARDIS land in the middle of Sherwood Forest, in the year 1190 and centres  around the Sheriff of Nottingham's plan to conquer the world, with the aide of his Robot Knights (and their spaceship). And also on the Doctor's plan to prove that Robin Hood is a mystical character and therefore doesn't really exist, with a suggestion that they may be part of a miniscope. A nod back to Pertwee's Carnival of Monsters.

We're then introduced to the band of Merry Men, whom the Timelord is utterly convinced doesn't exist either, as he goes about collecting hair and blood sample. Meet Marion who is taken away by the sheriff to work in an underground slave mine, where gold is being processed to enable the space ship to fly. (Destination, The Promise Land) And Clara having to intervene between the endless child-like squabbles between the Doctor  and Robin.

There's some swordplay and witty banter. Swordplay with a spoon and witty banter whilst sword playing with spoon. Being captured and witty banter whilst being captured. Then some actual sword play in which they exchanged...do you see where I'm going with this? I'm not saying that this particular episode was bad, it was just that it was almost like watching a pantomime. From the sword fights to the endless bantering, (just stab him for goodness sake!) it all seemed like one cliche after another. Ben Miller was excellent as the Sheriff of Nottingham and the scenes between him and Clara were very funny.

Sheriff - "Eat my lady, eat. Let it not be said that the Sheriff of Nottingham is a poor host".

Clara refusing - "Had a bag of crisps this morning".

The Sheriff explaining his plan to take over from King John...

 Sheriff - ..."For Nottingham is not enough. After this, Derby then Lincoln, And after Lincoln..."

 Clara "Worksop?"

Sheriff - "The world!"

Ben Miller as the Sheriff of Nottingham, or is that William Shakespeare?

Overall, I thought this was an okay episode, though there were a few things that had me thinking. One point that had me almost spitting out  a mouthful of Cadbury Pot Of Joy white chocolate buttons, was how was one golden arrow, able to boost the power of an entire spaceship? Also, where is and what is The Promise Land? Did Robin Hood actually exist, or was he indeed a robot? Also, a scene in which the Sheriff is beheaded and revealed to be a robot, was edited out at that last minute, out of respect for the American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Some have argued that the omission has changed the overall plot. But I personally think for those who didn't know about the cut, the story didn't suffer from that fact at all.
Capaldi still continues to impress and is so far, proving himself to be worthy of the title 'Doctor.'

Robot of Sherwood

Jamaican Doctor Who

Mater recently told me about a programme she used to watch as a youngster called The Real McCoy, so somewhere around 1980 BC I think. She's so old, she actually dated Jesus. Anyway, she remembered this clip and after much searching, here it is. Enjoy.

Into The Dalek. Series 8-Episode Two

Into The Dalek

Synopsis:

Having saved soldier Journey Blue from being killed by Daleks, the Doctor takes her back to a rebel space station, code-named Aristotle where  he is thanked by her uncle Colonel Morgan Blue. However, as thankful as Blue is that the Doctor saved his niece, he still orders his soldiers to execute the Time Lord not wanting to take the chance that he might be a 'Duplicate.' (A Dalek spy)

Journey however, informs her uncle that not only did the Doctor save her, but weren't they in need of a 'Dr' anyway. Morgan relents, upon which the Doctor is shown the patient...a Dalek.

 But this is no ordinary Dalek. This is a 'good' Dalek, one  that believes that all other Daleks MUST be destroyed.

In order to determine what is making Rusty good, (a nickname given to it by the Doctor) the Time Lord and his companions, are miniaturized and inserted into it's eyepiece.

The Doctor and Rusty

Review

So along with the new Doctor,  not only do we also find ourselves with a more modern theme tune, opening and closing credits and TARDIS interior, we also discover that the Doctor has a brand new persona, as do they all. But, is it me or does the Doc seem more cold than previous incarnations? A bit like Hartnell in An Unearthly Child, where he argues that the natives aren't worth helping because they are mere savages.

In Into the Dalek, this coldness becomes apparent when the Time Lord doesn't seem to spare a thought to soldier Ross, as he is surrounded by Daleks antibodies and then obliterated to dust, simply citing that he was dead anyway and that he (the Doctor) was trying to save them, the rest of the crew.

Also incorporated into the episode, is a side story involving the relationship between Clara and new teacher, Danny Pink. An obvious taster of a bigger plot line to come concerning the two.

Unlike last weeks episode Deep Breath, this particular installment didn't leave any lasting impressions. For me, it was just simply another Dalek story, although the idea of a Dalek being 'good' was an intriguing one. (I liked the part where the Dalek fleet were so enraged, that they were almost incoherent)
And although, villains like The Cybermen are and will always remain firm favourites for Whovians, has Moffat overdone the whole Dalek thing? Since Who begun in 1963, there have been roughly ninety-six on-screen story lines involving the metal pepper-pots, more than any other alien monsters featured in the series. Should the old adversaries be laid to rest once and for all? I hope not, but maybe it is time to give them a much needed break.

 So far, the most interesting person to appear, has to be Missy who has appeared towards the end of this and last week's episode. Are the deceased Half-Face Man and Gretchen Allison Carlyle really in heaven? And what role will Missy play in future episodes?
One thing is for certain and that is that the heavenly Missy is not exactly as she appears. Or maybe she is, because she appears to be crazy.

Missy, crazy woman or Saint?

On a side note, did anyone notice that the word Aristotle at a glimpse, becames A***hole?