Gamersledge Doctor Who Mid-Week Review: Deep Breath

Hello all, and welcome to our slightly delayed first installment of the season/series 8 of Doctor Who! NeoSapian here again to take you through the episodes and my take on all things whovian….but wait, this time I’ve brought a companion! That’s right, TrialAccess and I will be tag teaming this season to bring you a more varied coverage.  I will still weigh in on his via the comments and I expect he will as well on mine!  So we have a LOT to cover so we better get started,  For those of you who are new to the Gamersledge Doctor Who reviews, they are split into two parts, the spoiler free review and the spoiler section.  The spoiler section is a little different though, it is where the author poses questions and ideas about the episode and how it may fit into the larger scope of things.  It assumes that you have seen the episode and will spoil certain events, so only venture in if you have seen the episode or don’t care. So On with the SHOW!!

What IS going on here?

First off the new opening.  Honestly I love it.  The almost chiptune (but not really) version of the theme is a different twist on the classic and I like it.  The theme has always evolved throughout the show, but I like the departure fro the big orchestral versions.  Though I am partial to the last Matt Smith one as it was very similar to the theme I remember as a kid.  The use of Gallifreyan iconography and clockwork along with some classic touches and Capaldi Eyes 😀 really end up working for me.  Also the Time vortex evolved again into something more similar to the old school version, but we haven’t seen it in the actual show yet so we don’t know how far that change goes.  It IS a fair amount different from the concept video that was released a while back, but in the end I like this better.

The TARDIS control room.  Honestly not a huge change here which is good.  I really enjoyed the last version, and keeping it fairly similar feels like a good move.  The police box doesn’t look to have changed at all other then getting a fresh coat of paint.  Nothing much more here so the episode.

You normally ride a horse in a night gown right?

As apparently is tradition now, we get treated to the new Doctor in the throws of regeneration mania. (if you are unfamiliar with The Doctor and what this is about, just hit Google but suffice it to say, he changes form and personality when near death, or at least once after…renewing his life.  It is a trait of his species.)  I have to say I am of a fan of this, but I think we are stuck with it.  So The Doctor is clearly there, but he is having trouble getting the right connections out of his mouth.  I imagine when one’s entire physiology has so radically changes, finding the right neural pathways to even get the correct name out should be a bit challenging.

As a part of this mania, The Doctor has been crashing about time, and somehow ended up swallowed by a T-Rex like dinosaur and stuck in its throat.  So when the TARDIS hops again, along came the dino into Victorian London.  And with Victorian London you get Lady Vastra, Jenny and Strax back at it again, helping to get The DOctor back on course and solve the REAL mystery going on here.  What is the real mystery?  Well something happens to the dino and this leads them on a chase and give the newly regenerated Doctor, something to focus on.

The cavalry – such as it is 😉

Enter our real villain.  Let’s call him Clockwork.  Why is he here?  What is he doing? What is his connection to The Doctor’s Past?  When The Doctor and this chap finally come head to head, we finally see the fully capable Doctor.  But this is a Doctor in somewhat uncharted waters.  This latest regeneration is unlike anything ever, and has left him asking so many “human” questions.  It looks like we are in for a great ride!

Visually this episode was spot on.  I am STILL trying to figure out how they pulled off some of the clockwork stuff.  As I said earlier, the TARDIS was largely unchanged, but some subtle changes like the column is a different color and there are bookshelves on the walls.  I think the control panels have changed some too, but nothing so radical as past changes.

Hello Mr. Clockwork

Storywise there are two stories going on.  The first is the one I talked about above, which would be the normal mystery/adventure of the week one.  The second is Clara coming to terms with the Doctor’s change.  This is where things get a little preachy, and honestly kinda silly for Clara.  She KNOWS The Doctor changes, probably better than ANY other companion.  She has seen ALL his previous incarnations and even traveled with three of them.  This was clearly put in for all the audience members who jumped in during the Smith run.  This would be their first regeneration, and since this is a larger change I get a certain amount of hand holding, but it is a bit forced and messes with the overall flow of the episode.  It doesn’t ruin it, but it will be nice to see how the episodes flow without it.

Having said that, I think Capaldi nailed it.  He is going through his own issues, trying to deal with these tiny minded beings and just wants to get on with things.  He makes it CLEAR that there is no romantic intent here and some of the motivations of his previous version.  I find this version of The Doctor to be somewhere between William Hartnell and Tom Baker, which is PERFECT for me.  This Doctor is brash, impatient, slightly condescending and more than a wee bit mad.  This IS the madman in a blue box.  Unfortunately it seems we will be continuing this “leave the companion on Earth while The Doctor careens about the universe” thing.  I REALLY don’t like that…I mean REALLY don’t like that.

Mrs. Dinosaur

All in all I think this was a very good episode.  It did the job of setting up the new Doctor and his relationship with the companions.  I am personally very excited to see were this is going, and answer the big question posed at the end…..”Who is Missy?” I give it 8/10 Rubbish Robots from the Dawn of Time  Now onward to SPOILERS!  Please like and share and let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments!

SPOILERS – Do not click the below unless you want to see SPOILER information about this episode.

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OK so Who is Missy? Almost impossible to say at this point, but the claim at being his girlfriend felt pretty blatantly like exactly the opposite.  And how is she “capturing” the dead?  Does this have something to do with the system that River Song is in from the Library?  Is it The Rani?  Is it The Great Intelligence?  Is it something completely new?

The Doctor’s memory is especially scrambled.  Not being able to  remember the previous “rubbish robots” EVEN after finding that this was the Sister Ship from the episode “The Girl in the Fireplace”?  This is one of the more Tom Bakerish things they did.

This is our new Doctor..and who the Doctor really is. Ancient, serious, knows way more than any being should, has seen horrors beyond horrors and yet perseveres.

The Doctor recognizes this face isn’t original.  Why did he chose this face? Where does he get the faces from?  Is there a reason he chose this face.  He is MUCH older than he ever was in the series before, the actual Doctor not the actor.  He was under 1000 when Matt Smith took over and now he is over 2000, much of that time spent running and on Tranzalor.  Can a Time Lord even get too old?  He wasn’t supposed to go any further, he is supposed to be dead.  He is looking even more closely at himself and is trying to figure out what he should be and what he has been.

No new sonic 🙁

Next Week – Daleks!

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