WHO cares?

5 July 2017

There is still an incredible amount of speculation in the press about the identity of the next Doctor. The media seem convinced that she should be a woman, and keep suggesting names of various female actors (or comedians) who then have to issue a denial.

It seems to me that this is an impossible situation.  If a woman is cast, then the media will immediately seize on any decline in viewing figures (which are declining anyway, along with those for every other TV programme as viewing habits change) as the fault of the 'Woman Doctor.'  If  they don't cast a woman, and I still think it will be a thirty-something male who is not yet quite a household name, then Chris Chibnall will be blamed for lack of gender equality.  Which is ridiculous. Why should there be any need to change the Doctor's gender in order to prove some sort of political point.

I'm beginning to wonder if the only answer is Eddie Izzard.

Little House on the Solar Farm

Saturday 1 July 2017

After a very nice celebration lunch we were home in plenty of time for the Doctor Who finale, hoping that it wouldn't turn out to be a disappointment that spoiled the day. I've  found that with two-parters the set-up is often better than the conclusion. So was that the case here? 

There was a lot to enjoy, particularly the situation with Missy and the Master.  Missy is in two minds about whose side she is on "fortunately one of them is unconscious."

But the scene soon shifts from the creepy hospital to floor 507, where settlers are protecting the children in a homestead straight out of The Waltons. Bill is having identity issues (though I wonder why she has more problems with the 'Cyber' than the 'Man'). Meanwhile Nardole is proving useful, though he is something of a Marmite character.  I have warmed to him, but my other half described him as 'like K-9 only without the charm.'

All in all, it becomes apparent that the situation is without hope, but the Doctor has to try, because that is what he does, and Peter Capaldi gets to deliver another moving speech.  The Master and Missy manage to cancel each other out in a glorious moment of self-destruction.

Ultimately, though, the ending with a deus ex machine,  or more literally dea ex lacrimis, was a little disappointing, and rather too similar to the last series, with a companion who is sort-of dead surviving to fly off round the universe with a female companion.

The final moments bode well for Christmas, though.  Roll on December!

Extenuating Circumstances

A while ago I pointed out that my university colleague and I had concerns about the personal tutoring arrangement between Bill and the Doctor.

It's all a bit academic (see what I did there?) now that she has been 'repaired' but I wanted to return to the question of Bill's essay on free will that was 6 months late, owing to the invasion of the Monks. I'm afraid that invasion by zombie monks does not count as an extenuating circumstance under the terms of the extenuating circumstances policy, and even if it did, a six-month extension would be out of the question.

If the alien invasion is preventing Bill from engaging with her studies, she really should interrupt her registration.

Not only a Doctor Who geek, but a university regulations geek.  There is no hope for me.

World Enough and Time

Monday 26 June 2017

We missed the broadcast of Saturday night's episode owing to a prior engagement watching David Troughton (The Curse of Peladon and Midnight) playing Titus Andronicus  at the RSC. After an extremely gory evening, we settled down on Sunday morning to watch World Enough and Time.

Having enjoyed the previous two episodes, I didn't have particularly high hopes, particularly as I find season finales tend to be a bit disappointing.  I have seen online reviews suggesting that the episode was ruined because two of the biggest shocks had been made public in  advance.  Well, maybe, but the chances of keeping them secret would have been about the same as those of the Daleks taking up charity work.  On the other hand, Bill's fate was a genuine shock. And despite the leaks, I failed to penetrate the Master's disguise.  How could I have been so dense?

The idea of dropping Missy into a typical Doctor-type scenario to see how she got on was inspired.  I can't wait to find out what happens next week.   Unfortunately, next Saturday is a significant date, the sort of date that you might go out to celebrate.

Fortunately the husband has already thought of that.  "I've booked a table for lunch" he told me.

What Have the Romans done for Who

Saturday 17 June 2017

Bill is an expert on  the Ninth Legion. 

Of course she is.  New Who companions have a thing about the Romans. Amy's obsession with Romans became part of a trap for the Eleventh Doctor, and the Tenth Doctor took Donna to see the Colosseum, or would have done if the TARDIS hadn't gone slightly off course and landed them in Pompeii on volcano day.   

Bill is also an excellent student.  She is prepared to argue the point with her tutor, and to undertaken her own first-hand research - even if she has make use of a handy time machine to do it. But her hypothesis about the fate of the missing legion turns out to be slightly off target. She didn't allow for the effects of a dimensional gateway and some light-eating locusts. Must try harder.

Rona Munro's long-awaited return to the series was an enjoyable and largely traditional story.  The Doctor and his companion split up and gain the trust of opposing groups who eventually join together to defeat the larger threat.  There's nothing wrong with that.  To my mind, Doctor Who is at is best when dealing with relatively small scale stories such as this.  Whilst there is a threat that could consume the whole planet, confining the action to a single isolated location makes it easier to suspend disbelief than an epic with updates from all over the world.

Meanwhile, a reformed Missy is back in the TARDIS.  I have a bad feeling about next week....

It's the Macra incident all over again

10 June 2017

After the fairly ho-hum Monk trilogy, I had high hopes for Empress of Mars. Mark Gatiss is at his best when writing Victorians, and this was a typical Boys Own adventure tale of derring-do and serving the British Empire .... only on Mars, in a Tomb of the Cybermen sort of setting.

Of course in every regiment there is a bad apple or two. In this case there was the pilfering soldier (helpfully called 'Jackdaw') and a Captain who was a really nasty piece of work, probably because he rejoiced under the name of Neville Catchlove.

It was Catchlove, rather than the reanimated Ice Warriors, who was the real villain of the piece, though the Ice Warriors had a particularly unpleasant way of killing people.  The hero was a cowardly Colonel, brilliantly played by Anthony Calf, who redeemed himself with an act of selfless heroism that saved the day.  The Doctor didn't actually seem to do all that much, apart from attempting to negotiate between the species.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS, with Nardole on board, had decided to return to Earth. I'm not entirely sure whether this was simply a 'separate the Doctor from the TARDIS to stop it being too easy' device, or whether the point was to engineer a situation in which Missy would be released from the vault. 

However, the highlight of the episode was not Missy in the TARDIS, but the sound of the first friendly alien race with whom the 'e-mail' rigged up by the Doctor for the Empress made contact.  As soon as I heard it, I shrieked 'Alpha Centauri' before the interference on the viewscreen cleared to show everyone's favourite hermaphrodite alien, and definitely ahead of my husband (the 'proper' fan.) Just like in Gridlock where I identified Macra from a single waving claw.

It's all thanks to the Monks

Saturday 3 June 2017

*Spoilers*

I didn't write much about last week's episode because I really didn't like it that much.  I've mentioned before that I prefer self-contained smaller scale stories to big story arcs and the whole planet mobilising against a threat.  I particularly don't like the idea of the Doctor being made President of Earth.

Anyway, tonight's episode picked up events six months later, and our hero has apparently turned into a sort of modern day Lord Haw-Haw, broadcasting about how the wonderful Monks have always been there, shaping humanity's progress.  I wonder how they got on with the Fendahl, Fenric, Scaroth and all the other aliens who have been guiding humanity over the millennia?

Ha! Trick question!  Because of course they didn't get on with them at all, as they weren't really there. It is all a lie. Martha still knows this, but struggles to keep her grip on reality.  Of course the Doctor must be a prisoner, and being forced to help the Monks, mustn't he?

Until the end of the scene on the prison ship, the episode promises much. But having thrown everything at what turns out to be a gigantic fan wind-up, it rather runs out of steam after that.  There are some obvious parallels between this episode and Last of the Time Lords. Both start from a point where the earth had been taken over by aliens at the end of the previous episode, and the action starts some months later with the companion, the  being in the aliens' power. The ultimate resolution, using the alien's telepathic gizmo against them, is also the same.  And they both feature the Master (or Mistress.) The one significant difference here is that Missy is not responsible, and having (almost) turned over a new leaf, she provides the Doctor with the clue to the Monks' weakness.

All in all, despite great performances from Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez, I found this rather dull.