The Return of Doctor Mysterio

26 December 2016

Well that's another one over (Christmas specials, that is.)  I'm not sure yet what I think of The Return of Doctor Mysterio, having only seen it once so far.

On the plus side, it has returned to the Russell T Davies approach of a pastiche of a popular holiday blockbuster film (see The Christmas Invasion and Voyage of the Damned) rather than visiting yet another alien planet of the Dickensian Christmas people (see A Christmas Carol, Time of the Doctor and The Husbands of River Song.)  On the negative side, I'm not a great fan of superhero movies.

Another good point is that Matt Lucas' Nardole was considerably less annoying than I had anticipated.  In fact, I found myself looking forward to his appearances. I was less pleased to see the reappearance of the aliens with the zip-up heads and gloopy brains.  I think that they are uncalled-for when the nation is digesting its Christmas dinner.

I'll need to see it again a few times to come to a final conclusion, but I watched The Christmas Invasion again afterwards, and I can exclusively reveal that it is still number one.

My All New Top 10 (and a bit) Christmas Specials

Sunday 18 December 2016

Two years ago I did a series of posts on my top ten Doctor Who Christmas specials.  There have been two more since then, so an update is in order.  I am still finding it weird that Doctor Who now occupies the Morecambe and Wise spot as the traditional Christmas Day entertainment for all the family (and the Prime Minister.) However, it's been 11 years now, so here is my revised ranking, with 2014's Last Christmas and 2015's The Husbands of River Song slotted in.

1	The Christmas Invasion	2005
2	The Unquiet Dead*	2005
3	A Christmas Carol	2010
4	The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe**	2011
5	The Runaway Bride	2006
6	Voyage of the Damned	2007
7	Last Christmas***	2014
8	The Next Doctor	2008
9	The Husbands of River Song****	2015
10	The End of Time	2009
11	The Snowmen	2012
12	The Time of the Doctor	2013

* Yes, I know that this was technically not a Christmas Special, but it should have been.
**My new team member thinks this one is terrible, but at least it's properly Christmassy. We do agree about Nardole, though, so I'll let him off.

***Marked up for the Rudolph's nose car alarm gag

****Marked down for excessive continuity references and Matt Lucas.

There is still no change at number one.  How can you beat David Tennant, revived by a cup of tea, saving the world with a satsuma whilst still in his pyjamas, then having time to bring down the (female) Prime Minister before tucking in to turkey and all the trimmings?

I wonder which one is Theresa May's favourite?

PS Has anyone ever managed to solve the Watcher's Christmas Quiz in Doctor Who Magazine?  This year I don't even understand the questions.

PPS Have had a breakthrough with the Quiz.  Once we worked out the key, it isn't actually as hard as usual.  Woo hoo!

More Power of the Daleks

Sunday 11 December 2016

I am most encouraged to learn that I am not the only lady of a certain age who watches Doctor Who of her own volition. None other than Theresa May, Prime Minister (yes, we know who she is) enjoys watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special after she has cooked her goose. I just wish I could get away with wearing leather trousers...

Anyway, we have finished watching Power of the Daleks. There are definitely parallels with Victory of the Daleks - yes, we have Daleks in a servile role, bringing drinks. Why doesn't an enterprising Cardiff restaurant try that?

There are a lot of other familiar elements: lots of running up and down corridors; the Doctor being mistaken for someone in authority (psychic paper would have saved a lot of time; the Doctor being locked up; his companions being kidnapped; a misguided scientist; a rebel force and a scheming security chief. As this is the 1960s, the female companion has little to do apart from be kidnapped, although Polly seems to know quite lot about Daleks considering she hasn't actually met any before. Ben and Polly's initial suspicions of the new incarnation of the Doctor are soon forgotten.

The animation is strange in that the human characters are not particularly well realised, but the Daleks look almost photo-realistic.

Overall I enjoyed it.  Now we are on to the end of the Troughton era with The War Games.