Before the Flood

10 October 2015

We were actually at home to watch Before the Flood -  a very timey-wimey episode, where the Doctor goes back in time to try to prevent the events of last week's episode from happening.  Sometimes the Doctor can change history, sometimes he can't. (See Father's Day, The Waters of Mars, Fires of Pompeii, The Wedding of River Song etc.) This time the TARDIS did her best to stop him.

Fortunately the Doctor came up with a way of faking it, through a very Blink-like paradox.

Good things about this episode were:

• The sheer creepiness (the bit where Cass is being stalked by the ghost would definitely have given my 10 year old self nightmares - no wonder it is on at such a late time).
• O'Donnell's 'bigger on the inside' excitement
• The Doctor playing Beethoven's Fifth on an electric guitar and segueing into a rock version of the theme tune. (Can we keep that for a while, please?)

Less good things were:

• The Fisher King, who was essentially a (big) man in a rubber suit. 
• The co-ordinates, which are still rubbish.

On the whole, though, a pretty good effort.

Under the Lake

10 October 2015

Last Saturday night we watched an epic battle, and a Welshman hitting an Englishman with a leek.  No, we weren't watching Doctor Who, and weren't at the rugby either.  The thing about being a middle-aged fan, is that you find yourself going to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to watch Henry V.  (I blame David Tennant for the fact that I am now going to Stratford 3 or 4 times a year).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we didn't get to see Under the Lake until Sunday.  A classic  base under siege story, but was it more Waters of Mars or Warriors of the Deep?

It was definitely more the former, with something nasty affecting the crew and turning them into monsters (or 'ghosts') and a remotely-controlled device used to fetch an otherwise inaccessible object, operated by waving the arms around. The final scenes where the Doctor and Clara are separated by the flooded corridor was reminiscent of 42. I also felt that there was something of The Curse of Fenric about it, with an artefact (in this case the alien ship) controlling people so that they carry out the alien's plan.

However, that brings me to a problem. I'm not sure that the plan really comes together. I mean, how much use would those 'co-ordinates' be for a rescue mission from another planet? It's not even as if there is only one drowned town or village with an underwater church on the planet.

But no doubt all will become clear this evening. We are actually at home to watch it live.

And am I the only one who really wants to see the clockwork squirrel?