Clara Oswald

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Doctor Who Catch-Up Thoughts Part I

Playing catch-ups with the past few episodes of Doctor Who. Episodes 8×05 - 8×07.

Doctor Who 8×05 ‘Time Heist’

There must be some logic, right? Too right, character I didn’t care too much for. Too right. The premise of the episode is somewhat exciting, and things happen -I suppose- but all in all the episode is rather lacking. The storyline doesn’t all converge in a way that feels satisfying and the characters feel somewhat restricted, not sure if due to mind-swipe or my general disinterest in any, if any, character development presented.

You can’t say you didn’t see the whole ‘the Doctor IS The Architect’ twist coming, because well the Doctor’s rather quick to just ‘go with it’ isn’t he? Sure they’re already being chased by security and their memories have gone bye-byes so they appear to have no choice BUT to run, however the fact that he doesn’t really push against The Architect’s instructions seems a bit suspect, no?

Heh, I’ll shuttity up now. F***ity bye.

Doctor Who 8×06 ‘The Caretaker’

Doctor Who, 'The Caretaker'

Oh Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. Tells Clara’s he’s going deeeeeeeep undercover only to turn up at Coal Hill (where Clara and Danny work- also incidentally where the Doctor’s own granddaughter “attended” school) disguised rather poorly as the school’s temp caretaker. It’s hard enough that Clara’s trying to maintain two separate lives, as his companion and as a normal English teacher- who’s got a thiiiiiing going on with the Math teacher (hello again Danny Pink) but when those two lives seemingly collide it pushes her into a comprising position where she’s forced to lie to one of them. Clara thinks she’s got everything underwraps but she does not.

We knew that once the Doctor and Danny (properly) met there was going to be some headbutting, but the Doctor’s continued jibes about PE and refusal to accept that Danny was a math teacher kind of got grating after a while. Don’t get me wrong, the Doctor’s haughty remarks are often on point, but I don’t know it was telling how much he kept chipping away at Danny.

Not that Danny or Clara helped at all. Honestly it was like an episode of who can be the most flawed, Clara’s attempts to lead the double life stretching her thin, the Doctor’s pettiness (although his approval of the bow-tie clad teacher was cute) and Danny’s inability to understand Clara’s relationship with the Doctor. Although to be fair she did have a huge crush on him for most of series seven so…

Epilogue: Promised land? The nethersphere? So all these are hinting to what, exactly? And at what point will the Doctor or Clara find themselves here? Because this arc’s ‘mystery’ is becoming a little less intriquing and a little more annoying. But that could just be me.

Doctor Who 8×07 ‘Kill the Moon’

Literally?

The Doctor can’t take a mean comment back so instead takes Courtney Woods (The Disruptive Influence who snuck aboard the TARDIS and the Doctor said mean things to) on a ride along, to the moon circa 2049 where tumblr is something your grandparents did. We find out that the moon’s an egg and the big decision this week rests on the shoulders of one Clara Oswald, or rather is thrust upon her by the Doctor who checks out- washing his hands of the responsibility of making the call between an innocent life (the moon egg baby thing) and the lives of everyone on earth. Fun fun.

It got a bit serious there, didn’t it? And Clara’s angry outburst at the end at the Doctor, while not completely unwarranted, wasn’t entirely understandable? Almost as obscure as the Doctor’s reasons for gapping it in the first place. In order to address this we need to have a quick look at the Doctor’s relationship with the human race. It’s bumpy at best, he loves us… he loves us not…he saves us…he expects us to save ourselves. Honestly for me the words that echo in my mind when the Doctor pulls a stunt like this isn’t even from an episode of Doctor Who but rather from Torchwood: Children of Earth by Gwen Cooper:

I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. The man who appears out of nowhere and saves the world. Except sometimes he doesn’t. All those times in history when there was no sign of him, I wanted to know why not. But I don’t need to ask any more. I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame.

 

But this time it’s the Doctor’s actions that are shameful, because he doesn’t even know why he gapped it. Respect for Clara? Should have just stuck to ‘it was a decision for humans’ buddy. His actions put Clara in a difficult position, in a way that made her question her own morality I suppose. So I guess her outburst is understandable. I mean if she had went with the majority vote she could have justified it with ‘well majority rules’ but would she have been able to live with herself? Would the Doctor have been able to look at her the same way? I can’t say ‘Kill the Moon’ is a solid ep, but it posed some interesting questions- and set up some conflicts that have been brewing for a while. Even if it felt a bit sudden.

All I know is I’m not sure I would have been able to make a decision. Well… that’s not entirely true because them bacteria spiders would have meant we never even find out that the moon’s an egg- because if those things jumped out at me this is what would have happened: Kill it with fire

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Doctor Who 8×04 ‘Listen’ Review

They did some scaring this episode, but did the questions raised and the familiar scare tactic bog it down? Is our complicated love-hate relationship with this episode’s writer and showrunner tainting our enjoyment of the show? Maybe, but I’m going to allow the little part of myself that did enjoy the episode to take over for a bit.

‘Listen’ isn’t about a tangible thing that goes bump in the night, it’s about the nothingness that engulfs the space around you when you’re sure you’re alone. That thing underneath your bed doesn’t exist, it’s your own fear that holds you captive, but if Clara grabbed the Doctor’s leg all them years ago when he was a scared lil timebubby starting this whole tulpa/thoughtform, then why has it taken so long for the Doctor to remember to ‘Listen’? It boils down to the idea that fear is a companion, always with you. “Fear makes companions of us all.” Oh hi ‘Unearthly Child’ feels.

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Moffat hammers in, again, the idea that Clara has seen the Doctor through some fearful moments of his long life- even if he didn’t know it. Capaldi’s initial monologue is great in that caught our attention and I do believe those first few minutes elicited some small amount of terror- however I can’t say I felt the same amount of ‘fear’ as earlier work from Moffat. Because I still don’t blink when walking past angel statues.

The monster in this episode was your own imagination, well the Doctor’s own, brought to life- sorta. I immediately thought of Supernatural, ‘Hell House’. Remember the tulpa? If enough people believe it it’ll come to life, right? I half expected Sam and Dean to burst into the TARDIS and tell the Doctor to change the story, and suddenly a crossover AU fanfic was born. However all it took was Clara’s maternal touch and a heartfelt speech, not sure I was exactly wowed by the anticlimactic resolution but it worked so I can’t complain too much.

Extra thoughts:

- The side romance of Clara and Danny made a few steps forward, a jump or two back before hopping into a car and going full-speed ahead. They do work well, Coleman and Anderson have an interesting chemistry that I like. I’ll give them that. Are we to believe that Orson (the Pink line are not kind with names) is a descendant of Clara and Danny then? I still need Danny to meet the Doctor, that is all. Well, properly meet him, as an adult. Especially considering Danny became ‘Dan dan the soldier man’ thanks to his influence.

- “He’ll never make a Time Lord!” Is that person from the Doctor’s past the original cereal guy?

 

 

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Doctor Who 8×03: Robot of Sherwood Review

https://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/Doctor-Who-Robot-of-Sherwood-Poster.jpeg

Uh, what did we just watch? Anyone know what Gatiss was smoking when he penned ‘Robot of Sherwood’ and can we have some? I’m playing, but really it was a rather silly episode, wasn’t it? And it served to remind us that Doctor Who, at its core, is a children’s show. Where episodes like ‘Robot of Sherwood’ shouldn’t be so surprising. And yet, it was.

The Doctor lets Clara decide their next destination and with much fangirling she reveals that she really wants to meet the legendary hero himself- Robin Hood (played with much ha ha ha-ing by Tom Riley). They do and much slapstick humour is to be had, with a grating amount of fake laughter and much too merry men. I don’t know, I felt a bit like the Doctor myself the entire episode. Perhaps if I had a little more Clara in me I might have enjoyed the episode a bit more, but there seemed to be a forced atmosphere to it that I couldn’t shake. Was it the generous amount of sun in Nottingham? As the Doctor pointed out. Or the smile that didn’t reach Robin’s eyes? Or was it the irritating way he laughed, as Jess described, with a pause between each ha.

Perhaps it was the conflict between the two heroes. The man, the myth the legend… the Doctor or Robin Hood? Both rooted in their respective histories, from the page to the screen we’re all fine to accept them both in the show as ‘real’. Well at least Clara is, the Doctor -and by extension us- isn’t so sure. He spends the majority of the episode trying to expose Robin Hood as a fraudbot. Because he can’t possibly be real, that jawline and perfect teeth can’t exist. While it made for good (eh) banter, it grew ever so slightly tiresome by like the fourth round of pot-shots. All the while the Doctor was forbidding banter altogether. No banter from the Doctor? Sounds like a Tui Ad.

I agree, with Jess, that the storyline left a lot to be desired. A bit weak, saved only by the actors’ convictions to be their characters. Because what was even happening this episode? Seriously, The Sheriff of Nottingham is stealing gold to power a spaceship because he wants to fly to London and take over England with his robot army? Oh…kay. But this (is Doctor Who so what are you even complaining about?!) episode isn’t trying to bring the gravitas, not even a little bit. It’s slapstick and tongue-in-cheek humour with robots in a forest circa 1190AD-ish. They’ll take us back to the series-long arc soon enough, but for now enjoy a bit of the funny.

Next week they’re bringing the scary/creepy, you know how I love the scary/creepy!

Honourable Mentions:

- Them hair extensions tho’.

- History is a burden, stories can make us fly.

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Doctor Who 8×02 ‘Into the Dalek’ Review

What did we learn today? There’s no such thing as a good…anything, really. Everyone has flaws, humans, Timelords, Daleks…the Doctor (yeah, yeah he’s a Timelord, but let’s put him in his own category anyway). This theme’s been a’cooking for a while now, and this episode clearly lays the foundation down for a series-long study of the Doctor’s moral makeup. With a Dalek (who the Doctor dubs Rusty) suffering from morality (taking us right back to series one’s ‘Dalek’ innit?) as the central plot, the Doctor, Clara and a few soldiers are shrunken ‘Honey I shrunk the Doctor!’- style and off into the heart of the Dalek (darkness) they go.

The Doctor saves a soldier, Lt Journey Blue (VOD! I mean Zawe Ashton), who establishes herself quite firmly from the get-go. Heh, I would still like to see Zawe Ashton as the Doctor some day, and seeing as you can explain away a guest-actor becoming the Doctor once, why not a second time? Keep that in mind, guys. Right so humans are locked in a battle with the Daleks, and they’ve got one Dalek (Rusty) suffering from ‘morality as malfunction’. We learn about the insides of a Dalek, which is visually comparable to the inside of a Teselecta, well crossed with a jumble of tubes- them human remains though.

Surely the Doctor should have known that by ‘fixing’ Rusty, the Dalek would revert to his natural state of hate. Was a bit dumb. However through this central plot-line the Doctor is faced with an idea that’s been giving him intense internal turmoil for the the better part of 2000 years. Because when Rusty gets a glimpse into the Doctor’s mind there’s a hiccup as he picks up on the Doctor’s hatred of the Daleks. And the age old ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ rears its familiar head.

Is the Doctor a good man? He makes quite a few judgement calls that could be deemed cold, but this isn’t new. Clara’s answer, that she doesn’t know if he’s a good man but the fact that he tries is the point, works. The Doctor often needs his companion, or carer, to slap some sense into him. And in this instance Clara literally does. Capaldi’s stint as the Doctor is shaping up to be rather excellent, and I welcome all the coldish zingers with open arms. He’s looking to be less apologetic in the sense that he doesn’t beat around the bush about the facts. The Doctor’s dynamic with Clara is, in my improving, Clara should be glad he forgot her in Scotland (which isn’t too far from her home, and is thankfully in the same time and on earth). Also, our introduction to Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) was great. I can already see the Doctor not liking Danny- not just because of his alpha maleness (even if he’s socially awks) but because he was a soldier. Even one with enough of a conscience to reflect upon past deaths and shed a tear in front of a class of students. Way to make us all uncomfortable, sir! I’m already living for any and all his interactions with Clara. I bet you’re living for it. That’s what I said. I bet you say that.

Next week we’re off to Sherwood Forest!

Honourable Mentions:

- Why couldn’t the Doctor have taken Journey with him? Think of all the puns!

- And Missy, once again in ‘heaven’ greeting those who’s ‘passed on’ during the episode. Nobody guards the dead, aye?

- Danny Pink, ladies and gentlemen. Lady Killer extraordinaire.

 

 

 

 

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Doctor Who Air Date and Teaser: ‘Am I A Good Man?’

That’s right folks, Doctor Who will air feature-length episode ‘Deep Breath’ on the 23rd of August, 2014. (It’ll be Sunday morning as per usual for us in NZ, officially though who knows when we’ll get those episodes on TV?) One thing’s for sure, I can’t be more ready for the adventures to begin again. Peter Capaldi’s stint as the Twelfth Doctor will be epic, no doubt. With the Doctor asking if he’s a ‘good man’ it makes me wonder if Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) is still the impossible girl? Was the impossible girl storyline nicely tied up- as messy as it was? Granted I wasn’t the biggest fan of Clara’s ‘impossible girl’ arc, here’s to the new series!

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Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor Christmas Special - Goodbye Raggedy Man

This review/recap will be all over the show, as I am still smarting from the episode. In the end Smith’s performance held a rather crazy episode together, I have to admit that during the first half I wasn’t sold but the last 11 or so minutes had me. See what I did there?

Firstly, who would want to live in a town called Christmas? Especially one located on a truth field? Nope. And yet, it exists and the Papal Mainframe, a space church headed by Mother Superious Tasha Lem, someone with an interesting relationship with the Doctor indeed, have the Doctor go investigatin’ a town called Christmas. Which happens to be located on a planet that Handles (a severed Cyberman head) called Gallifrey. I suppose Handles was confused by the crack in the wall, really a split in the skin of reality- scar tissue from the 26th of June 2010 when the TARDIS blew up and took the universe with it, projecting a request for information. A question. Doctor Who?

The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Doctor Who? If the Doctor speaks his name the Timelords will be able to come back into this universe, and what’s wrong with that? Well, according to the Doctor it would be “Hell, all hell. That’s what happens if the Timelords come back.” Basically if the Timelords were to come back the Time War would begin anew. They’re asking for his help through the crack in time, but if he says it all of his enemies will destroy Tranzalore and all the people on it- including the town of Christmas. The first thing the Doctor does is trick Clara, who he’d picked up from Christmas dinner with her family after giving them a full monty, into going into the TARDIS and sending her home.

With a bit of exposition the Doctor confirms what Moffat had been saying and we’ve been trying to wrap our heads around, that Hurt’s doctor counted as did Ten’s regeneration, even if he’d kept his foxy face- making Smith’s doctor the last. Well. Unless of course the Timelords help a Doctor out.

The Doctor has been stranded on Christmas (yes that’s the name of the town on Trenzalore) for over 300 years. The TARDIS took ages to get back to him, after he sent Clara back to earth on it, because she clung to it when she realised he tricked her. What on earth is wrong with him? Last time he tricked a companion into safety, Rose, she hacked the TARDIS console and absorbed the time vortex and became some all powerful being- this time Clara did a Jack Harkness and the TARDIS had to use power to keep her alive while they were in space.

With some more exposition, courtesy of Mother Superious (who’s actually really dead and now a Dalek unit) we discover that the Papal Mainfrain’s, now the Church dedicated to Silence, Kovarian branch were responsible for the TARDIS blowing up and thus creating the cracks in time when they tried to kill him and prevent him from ever making it to Trenzalore to this Christmas hell- I mean to the town of Christmas. This episode has been rather here there and everywhere- but an origin story for the Silence sect? Moffat, are you even trying?

The crack disappeared from the wall when Clara begged the Timelords on the other side to help the Doctor who was walking up the clocktower to his death. Irony, the Daleks have been trying to kill him for how long- and what does him in is old age. Love it. The crack reappears in the sky, as the Timelords do as she had asked and help the Doctor who’s dying from old age. The question is, however, did the Timelords send him one regeneration or a whole new set? The doctor, finally looking his [old] age, dances around on the clock tower, singing ‘regeneration 13′ before using regenerative energy to destroy the Dalek mothership. He then returns to the TARDIS to complete the regeneration cycle.

‘Times change and so must I.’ Smith’s final speech as the Doctor was heartbreaking, if beautifully done. The regeneration had begun and it reset the Doctor’s appearance so he looked young for his goodbye speech- it seems Ten wasn’t the only vain guy.

I’ll always remember when the Doctor was me.

When we saw the fish fingers and custard and Amy and she says “Raggedy man, goodnight.” I about lost my grip on my tears- despite not being able to get over their wigs. However in the end it was rather apt, Smith’s farewell. And the regeneration itself was pretty quick, while there were tears during his speech he didn’t mess around about changing.

Any moment now, he’s a comin’.

And here he is, Capaldi’s first words are ‘Kidneys, I’ve got new kidneys!’ His Scottish accent intact which is more than I can say about his knowledge of flying the TARDIS!

And now? We wait.

Honourable Mentions:

- So that’s what was behind his door, huh? The crack in time. Which emits a message, ‘Doctor Who?’

- Handles though, Handles was my favourite this episode. ‘When- when.’ Oh Handles! RIP Handles. Who’d been with the Doctor for a good 300 years. Um longest serving companion?

- Oh I’m so excited for Capaldi’s run!
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The Day of the Doctor: Shall we discuss the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode?

Was the 50th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who everything you hoped for? I can tell you now that it won’t have satisfied everyone, it might well have pissed some people off, however we loved it. Although I wouldn’t say it was completely sound, a few questions were raised in terms of what exactly this episode would mean in regards to the Doctor’s timeline and mythology, however I can’t say that I wasn’t completely engrossed. And when the audience erupted into applause at the end, I can’t say I didn’t join in. Because at the end of the day, the ‘Day of the Doctor’, it was an episode filled with superb acting, numerous Classic&New-Who references and good fun- and perhaps even some tears. Now be warned, spoilers will follow.

doctorsLet’s just get right into the wibbly wobbly, time wimey points of interest, shall we?

First of all, Rose Tyler’s appearance. “They must’ve told you the Moment had a conscience.” Ah so Rose doesn’t really come back, she’s the interface for the WMD ‘the Moment’. Having been privy to the Doctor’s past and future the sentient WMD picks out a face and body that she feels the Doctor would appreciate. However, the interface doesn’t take Rose Tyler the companion’s form, instead it takes the form of Rose Tyler, Bad Wolf. “I think I’m called…Rose Tyler. No, yes, no sorry… in this form I’m called Bad Wolf.” It’s funny though, when this scene happened- one could construe it as Bad Wolf commenting about kissing the Doctor in general.

However the first time a kiss occurs it is between the Ninth Doctor while Rose is Bad Wolf, when she’s brimming with the time vortex and he kisses her to take it away. Could explain why the Moment thought it apt to use Bad Wolf-Rose as its interface. The Doctor doesn’t know Rose’s face yet and just tells the interface that he’s ready to kamikaze out. “If you have been inside my head, then you know what I’ve seen. Suffering. Every moment in time and space is burning, it must end. I intend to end it the only way I can.”

The Moment warns ‘the War Doctor’ that there will be consequences and he responds that he has no desire to survive what he intends to do. In using the Moment to kill everyone involved in the Time War, Timelords and Daleks alike, he intends to be destroyed along with them. Even before he tries to hit that ‘big red button’ he confesses that he’d done things to warrant him no longer deserving of the Doctor’s title. “I’ve been fighting this war for a long time, I’ve lost the right to be the Doctor.”

However the Moment’s punishment for his actions would be for him to survive the destruction.

The paintings in the gallery, which the Zygons had been skidoo’d into gave the Doctor an idea. In using that skidoo crystal and skidooing the entire planet into a 3D painting, essentially freezing it in time after tricking the Daleks to shoot themselves, the Doctors have altered the course of their own history. No longer is the burning of Gallifrey a fixed point in time and no longer is a fixed point in time an unmovable thing. I don’t want to get into the logistics of it all for fear of falling through a plot-hole.

Tennant, Smith and Hurt really do have great onscreen chemistry. Especially Smith and Tennant, their witty banter really made the episode, I could watch those two interact in anything. Anything.

But Gallifrey is gone, the Doctor is the last of the Timelords! Well he’s under that impression for sure, I suppose their forgetting that they even saved Gallifrey could explain this. It very nearly could have been completely destroyed, if it weren’t for Clara (and the Moment) offering her human perspective on the entire thing. That there’s no need for a Warrior, and anyone could be a hero- what Gallifrey needed was a Doctor. Just like when they needed a human companion to open the door to their cell as it was unlocked and neither of them thought to check it.

When all of the Doctors chimed in I couldn’t help but internally scream from the fangirling.

Thirteen? Moffat said Hurt’s ‘War Doctor’ won’t have any bearing on the Doctor’s regeneration count, as we are all in the mindset that the Doctor only has twelve regenerations before he can regenerate no more. And the War Doctor keeps denying that he is the Doctor, as much as Ten and Eleven do. However, Moffat lies more than the Doctor does. He’s already changed a fixed point in time, in the Doctor’s storyline, changing not just the Doctor’s history but perhaps altering the show’s history, so we can’t really place much trust in Moffat’s words.
However the Doctor will be on his way towards regenerating into his twelfth/thirteenth incarnation this coming Christmas, as Peter Capaldi takes the reins look out for clues as to how the mythology of his regenerations will change in order to accommodate further incarnations. It also means he is no longer making his way towards his death and eventual resting place in Trenzalore- because he’s already been there. Now, he shall find his way back to Gallifrey- never mind that he left the place looking for adventure all those years ago when he ‘borrowed’ a TARDIS with no intention of giving it back.

Honourable Mentions:

- Tom Baker’s cameo. All my feels, first of all the Fourth doctor’s scarf was worn by one of the scientists, but as it turns out Baker’s the curator? Also, he reveals the painting’s true name, “Gallifrey Falls, No More.” So is Baker just a familiar faced curator, offering a nod to the classic who era, or is he the Doctor having regenerated into a past version of himself for sentimental reasons?

- Zygons let bygones be bygones and so on and so on.
- Sexist Moffat strikes again? I have to say, I didn’t like Queen Elizabeth’s ‘weak and feeble’ line not including the bit where she states she has the ‘heart and stomach of a king’. I mean, she’s the monarch that referred to herself as having a lion’s heart. Sure she defeated the Zygon and got a zinger in there about the male species being so arrogant not to realise they’d been duped- but she also points out that the only reason she beat the Zygon posing as her was because it, too, was feeble and weak having taken the body of a woman.
- The round things!
- Timey-Wimey
An Adventure in Time and Space (Written by Mark Gatiss)
I know An Adventure in Time and Space deserves its own post, however for now it will receive this honourable mention. David Bradley was amazing as William Hartnell, The docudrama really did give me a sense of just how much of a groundbreaking show Doctor Who was and is.
As always, no doubt I’ve missed something you feel should have been discussed, drop me a line. Until Christmas, or until the need to talk about Doctor Who arises again.