Revisiting the Twelfth Doctor: Listen

Listen

To start, here's what I remembered about this story:

I remember this being really creepy. A very clever idea and some good cheeky continuity with the 50th special. However, the actual detail of the plot hasn't stuck in my mind. The ending was a very original concept, but I remember feeling distinctly deflated. Overriding memory? A lot of tension, but nothing actually happened.

My gut reaction wasn't far off, I don't think, but re-watching this was more enjoyable than that makes it sound. What I'd forgotten was the interesting continuation of Clara trying to enjoy a normal life alongside travelling with the Doctor.

It's something Moffatt attempted with Rory and Amy, but we never really got a glimpse of their actual lives outside the Tardis. Here, Clara's life is part of the drama and we can see the tensions and the opportunities - who else could use a time machine to try to recover a disastrous date?

In short, the character drama is very enjoyable. It's fun seeing Clara freak out when presented with possible evidence that she is to have children with the man she has only just started dating. There's some entertaining exploration of ideas around how formative experiences in our childhood can great impact upon our life choices, with Danny being given the toy soldier as a child and Clara giving a child version of The Doctor the same speech the adult Doctor had given her earlier in the episode.

There's one point of continuity that doesn't really work. If the Doctor grew up on Gallifrey and that planet was destroyed across time - there's the continual suggestion that the Doctor can't visit Gallifrey in the past because it is completely gone throughout history then how can Clara visit the Doctor's childhood? Maybe there's an explanation, but none is given. Add it to the list of bizarre leaps for which this particular series of Doctor Who doesn't feel it needs to bother offering an explanation.

The monster drama is odd. It didn't feel as much like a false ending as it did on first viewing, but there's something amiss. I think it's one of those ideas that would be great in a book, but falls flat as soon as the visual medium is used to tell the story. We're supposed to believe that the mystery creature the Doctor is hunting is entirely a figment of overactive imagination. That's fine, so what is the thing we all saw under the sheet in the children's home? It was there, on screen. All the characters looked at it while it was under a sheet? The problem with visual storytelling is that once you clearly show the audience something, you can't dismiss it as the characters "seeing things" because we are all third-party witnesses. Plus, for me at least, the story makes an initial assumption about all living things having a shared nightmare - one which I have never had.

Now if it had been a nightmare about a wolf trying to eat my feet, let me tell you about my childhood dreams...

Revisiting the Twelfth Doctor: Robot of Sherwood

Robot of Sherwood

Here we are, already. The point in the series where I felt everything was going horribly wrong. I'll save you a scan through the text and declare, up-front, that I didn't hate this as much as I thought I would. It's isn't good science fiction, drama or history but it's an entertaining enough Robin Hood romp, let down by an ending which is just... I don't even know what it is.

Here's a reminder of what I remember from seeing this story the first time, roughly a year ago:

Oh dear. Honestly? Not even looking forward to revisiting this one. A silly idea, brought to a head with one of the worst dramatic climaxes in television history. I remember lots of arguing for Clara's attention, leading to a resolution which one Who fan referred to as "like pouring petrol on the outside of a car and expecting it to work".

It's episodes like this that cause me to question what kind of show Doctor Who should be. I'm a lifelong fan of science fiction. To me, good science fiction posits a change to something that forms the everyday fabric of our lives and then explores the world that comes out of that change. Often, science fiction takes place in a far future where the whole technological fabric of society is unrecognisable, but the human elements of story and character remain something to which we can relate. In other instances, the sci-fi world is recognizably ours but with a single change, such as the Channel 4 drama Humans, in which the single change is the presence of artificially intelligent android domestic servants.

The basic premise of Robot of Sherwood is sound. An alien ship has crash-landed on Earth during the 12th Century and assimilate themselves into local history in order to repair their ship. It's been done before in Doctor Who - The Time Warrior. The difference in tone between those two stories is vast. The Time Warrior is a genuine insight into the rule of barons in feudal Britain. The human villain is sinister and deadly, but not a caricature. The neighbouring Lord is practical, dour and determined to act in a reasonable way. In Robot of Sherwood, we have a cast of larger-than-life characters, encapsulated by The Doctor's insistence at the beginning that they are fictional characters who never really existed. They're a romantic ideal, not real historical figures. Despite an attempt to inject some pathos into the scenario by hinting at the trauma Robin Hood has faced, it barely comes across as a beat in the midst of bantering, lute-playing and machismo. The fact that the Doctor calls the Merry Men out on these actions doesn't mean this shouldn't be the audience's reaction as well.

Then there's the ending. Spoilers: the space ship taking off doesn't have enough gold to safely clear the planet. Robin fires an arrow, which sticks to the outside of the rocket and somehow powers the engine into space. Firstly, let's ignore the fact that despite being short of gold, the villain gives away a solid gold arrow, which obviously contains enough gold to fix his own problem. Secondly, a gold arrow powering an engine from the outside is one of the worst pieces of science fiction writing I have ever encountered. That a single writer, sitting on their own may construct this bizarre set of events is unfortunate, but it happens. Writers run with bad ideas and make mistakes. Any normal editor would simply make them change it. However, for a production crew, made up of dozens of skilled storytellers, to read this idea, think it was good and go through the weeks-long process of producing it and getting it to our screens is unforgivable. The whole thing could have been saved, if the Special Effects shot had shown the arrow flying through the metal side of the engine or even - and I'd take this explanation, however goofy - somehow flew up into the rocket nozzle and made it into the engine. Those are daft explanations, but they are, at least, explanations. If you're not following why I think this is such a bad piece of science, try an experiment. The next time you're cooking, place a lit candle next to the cooker, on the outside and see if it affects the cooking time.

Ultimately I'm not sure what to take away from this story. There's a central idea that maybe the Doctor doesn't know everything and his assumptions about the truth of history are maybe no more accurate than our own. But while The Time Warrior gives us time to reflect on the responsibilities of those who rule common people and the importance of careful interaction with less developed cultures, Robot of Sherwood leaves us with the impression that its okay to take a revisionist approach to history. So what if the overwhelming factual evidence is against the existence of a historical figure? Maybe that's what they want you to think. Evidence isn't truth. My opinion is that Robin Hood is real, so who are historians to tell us otherwise? While I'm at it, maybe those scientists that tell me medicine is the only answer are wrong. I'll beat my cancer using crystals, or positive thinking. And vaccinating my child is just a conspiracy to give them autism, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccination is safe, essential for society and the health of other peoples children and that my beliefs are those of an ignorant and dangerous asshat.


There is a place in science fiction for doing away with assumptions and even ignoring the evidence for a more important mechanism. Physics suggests that travelling faster than the speed of light, or even time travel, are impossibilities in our universe. We can put these rules aside, because the value to the story of assuming that, maybe, one day we will overcome these limitations is worth exploring. And it's even perfectly fine to re-address historical events. If history is truly bunk, then the best we can get from it is a new perspective on our present. Robot of Sherwood offers none of this. It is bad science fiction and pretty weak fantasy. And that's coming from the guy who thinks Paradise Towers is a good, solid and engrossing story.

Revisiting the Twelfth Doctor: Into the Dalek

Into the Dalek

Fantastic Voyage meets Carnival of Monsters as the Doctor agrees to help a sick Dalek, because it has seen the light and decided to kill its own kind. Here's a reminder of what I remembered from watching it, nearly a year ago:

A good idea - some nice DW continuity references (the mini-scope) and great casting. I remember not being totally impressed with the realisation of their Fantastic Voyage-style adventure - and some of The Doctor's callousness towards death felt hard to accept.

First off, how great does Doctor Who look now? I'm not just comparing to the classic series with theatrical sets and painted green bubblewrap for monster skin - even since the show has been back on the air, this episode looks and sounds incredible. From the sweeping opening shot of the space fighter being chased by a Dalek saucer to the shots of the miniaturised protagonists against the huge internal working of the machine, this is an incredible-looking episode.

Beyond effects, the realisation of a dirty, gritty war-torn future is incredible. In the scenes where the Daleks pour into the human ship, exterminating as they go, they have rarely looked more threatening. It's easy for the Daleks to end up look a bit camp in battle, but the layered fire, sparks and moody lighting completely convince in making these creatures a terrifying killing machine.

The Doctor's callousness is a bitter pill to swallow (not unlike the pill he gives the doomed soldier which we initially assume is to save him, but turns out to be a device for the Doctor to track his remains). But I got to thinking about the bystanders that died in previous Doctors' eras. Moments such as "Forest of the Dead" where Doctor #10 tells the Vashta Narada "You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her. But I'm going to let that pass. Just as long as you let them pass." There has always been a level of pragmatism in the Doctor's approach to death. I'd forgotted how desperately Doctor #12 tries to stop the squaddie from the action which later causes his death - but it strikes me that if it had been Clara, or another assistanct (for which read: important character) he would have found a way. But as I recall, humans taking responsibility for their own choices is a theme for this series and explains a lot of the Doctor's actions.

Great story though. Gripping adventure - and I enjoyed the contrast with the "real life" storyline in Clara's teaching job. The Doctor's own hatred of the Dalek proving to be the final straw is an interesting development. The Dalek's assertion "You are a good Dalek" would have been more shocking if we hadn't already had a Dalek tell Doctor #9 "You would make a good Dalek."

A couple of unexplored human issues branched out for me with this. When they realise the Dalek isn't good, he's just suffering an injury, it reminded me of how sometimes a person can be a angry/violent/difficult person, but if they suffer a stroke or dimentia it can completely change their personality. I'd have enjoyed more of an exploration between the concept of being good versus suffering forced behaviour change - but that's an aside.

From my comments above, I think I originally found it strange how much empty space existed inside the Dalek. This time, it didn't bother me and of course in the classic era days, characters were forever climbing inside Dalek cases to hide or infiltrate. Memory is a funny thing. Maybe I need Clara to reconnect a few circuits for me.

Still, I remember enjoying this episode and I enjoyed it even more on a second viewing. Definitely one of the stronger outings for the Daleks.

Revisiting the Twelfth Doctor: Deep Breath

Deep Breath

So here it is - the first full story for the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. Here's a reminder of what I said in my last blog post I remembered about it:

I'll admit to some distraction here. I was very tied up with seeing how the 12th Doctor's personality would coalesce. I remember very little of the plot, beyond a burning T-Rex and lots of hand-wringing with the Victorian/Lizard/Sontaran crew. I recall annoyance that they spent so much of the episode making excuses for Capaldi's age - especially given that Clara had already seen The Doctor's entire regeneration cycle to date. A parting phonecall from Doctor #11 was a particularly insulting moment, although a clever bit of continuity from The Time of the Doctor.

I enjoyed this more than I expected to. A few inconsistencies and weak ideas, but  actually a very interesting watch.

The apologetics for Capaldi's age now seems to me less self-conscious and more a genuine confusion on Clara's part. She has, as I said, seen his entire regeneration cycle - but this new man is a stranger, even to her. I enjoyed Clara's anger - a common response among the bereaved - and feeling of losing someone she was close to, to be dumped in the care of a man whose behaviour and trust she could not rely upon.

I had forgotten the additional guff about the Doctor now being Scottish. It seems nonsensical to me. He's not human, so gaining a Scottish accent is really just an affectation. But for a character who so recently had been mystified by the existence of "the bedroom" as a concept and couldn't tell the difference between Clara (Human) and Strax (Sontaran) because they were the same height, the Doctor's commentary on Scottish/English rivalry is divisive at best and comes across as the writer showing through, not the characters. It's nice, though, that in Missy/the Master's introduction, she demonstrates her obsession with the Doctor by taking on a Scottish accent as well. It plays effectively into the suggestion that the reason the Master loves/hates the Doctor is plain old envy.

Some nice dark moments with the new Doctor experimenting with the boundaries of callousness and pragmatism. As I've said, this rings throughout the series. He tries to take the coat from a cold homeless man ("I'm cold too, there's no point us both being cold") but this is an effective device as later when the Doctor abadons Clara in the "larder" ("There's no point us both being captured") we genuinely think he may have cast her adrift. The same when he leaves without her at the end.

I can't believe how much of this story related directly to The Girl in the Fireplace - my favourite episode of all time, modern or classic. I'm surprised that didn't stick in my memory better. perhaps because I don't really see how it relates. Hard to believe that the clunky wrought-iron android is from the same factory as the beautiful and delicate clockwork men.

A nice dramatic face-off between Clara and Madame Vastra. Lots of wit and sexual chemistry, which is always nice. Valid commentary about Vastra keeping Jenny as a bit of a sexual object. ("Doesn't exactly explain why I'm pouring tea for you in private.")

In terms of weaknesses, I don't really get how the androids are fooled by people holding their breath. If they're programmed to use human components to replace ship parts, they must have sensors which register something other than breath movement as a means to determine living tissue. Maybe I'm being harsh - maybe because they are part human means that the only difference between cyborg and human is the need to respirate.

The phone call from Doctor #11 grated less, now I knew it was coming. I didn't hate it second time around, in fact it was a nice character touch. But it strikes me that Moffatt is prone to sentimentality and finds it hard to let things go. In the same way that Amy's appearance in The Time of the Doctor felt like Doctor #11 couldn't let go of his big love, the phonecall in Deep Breath feels like a hanging on - an inability to accept that Matt Smith's time has gone.

But overall I enjoyed this way more than I remembered. A good Victorian crime romp, great wit in the script and some good character development. A slightly indifferent story plot, but with a great dilemma for the audience at the end. Did the villain jump, or did The Doctor push him to his death?

Seems pretty obvious to me that he pushed him.

Revisiting the Twelfth Doctor

I recently acquired the boxset of Doctor Who series 8, Peter Capaldi's first series as The Doctor. I quite often revisit DW after a little break - partly because I'm a cheapskate and wait for the prices to tail off a little, but mainly because leaving things for a time helps to get past those initial gut reactions to a piece.

I do it with my own writing - and I'm not alone. Many writers speak of putting away first drafts in a drawer, to allow it to be seen later on with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective.

Strangely it's the same experience with new Doctor Who episodes. Maybe it's hype, maybe it's the complexity of getting to grips with strange new settings and ideas, but I don't always enjoy DW on first viewing. Conversely, the episodes I did enjoy first sometimes offer little rewards on repeated viewing. But it struck me recently that I was surprised at just how much I now enjoy series 5 & 6, with Matt Smith, despite some misgivings about the stories contained within. Furthermore I even revisited "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" and "The Lodger" and found a lot there to enjoy.

So, I decided to put down my thoughts somewhere, while I revisit series 8 for the first time. Here seems as good a place as any.

First, though, I'd like to set down my memories and expectations. Once I've reacquainted myself with an episode, it's hard to recapture my feelings from the first viewing. So, what follows is what I remember from watching Peter Capaldi's first season for the first time.

Series 8 overview 

The TL;DR version? Loved Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. Abrasive, alien, unpredictable - everything the Doctor should be. Hartnell at his most uncaring, Troughton at his most enigmatic, Baker 1 at his most inscrutable, Baker 2 at his most blasé, McCoy at his darkest and most manipulative. (I've missed a couple, there. Pertwee and Davison were just too much like nice guys for a reasonable comparison!)

However, I remember some of the episodes as very shaky. Probably about half I didn't really enjoy. I remember some truly incredible moments of writing - some of the best Doctor Who has ever had. Danny Pink's clever tirade against the Doctor as an "officer" figure; Capaldi's description of Clara as his carer: "She cares, so I don't have to"; dimensional hiccups with the size of the Tardis - all brilliant. However this was interspersed with some of the worst writing I've encountered. A golden arrow on the side of an engine? Fully-functional Cyberman reconstituted out of water? Really?

Deep Breath

I'll admit to some distraction here. I was very tied up with seeing how the 12th Doctor's personality would coalesce. I remember very little of the plot, beyond a burning T-Rex and lots of hand-wringing with the Victorian/Lizard/Sontaran crew. I recall annoyance that they spent so much of the episode making excuses for Capaldi's age - especially given that Clara had already seen The Doctor's entire regeneration cycle to date. A parting phonecall from Doctor #11 was a particularly insulting moment, although a clever bit of continuity from The Time of the Doctor.

Into the Dalek

A good idea - some nice DW continuity references (the mini-scope) and great casting. I remember not being totally impressed with the realisation of their Fantastic Voyage-style adventure - and some of The Doctor's callousness towards death felt hard to accept.

Robot of Sherwood

Oh dear. Honestly? Not even looking forward to revisiting this one. A silly idea, brought to a head with one of the worst dramatic climaxes in television history. I remember lots of arguing for Clara's attention, leading to a resolution which one Who fan referred to as "like pouring petrol on the outside of a car and expecting it to work".

Listen

I remember this being really creepy. A very clever idea and some good cheeky continuity with the 50th special. However, the actual detail of the plot hasn't stuck in my mind. The ending was a very original concept, but I remember feeling distinctly deflated. Overriding memory? A lot of tension, but nothing actually happened.

Time Heist

I recall really enjoying this one. Classic Ocean's Howevermany style robbery caper. Slightly awkward re-use of sets not masked very well and a sense that the team that had been essentially were largely superfluous redshirts, once it was revealed what actually needed to happen, but a good romp, nevertheless. Creepy monster and a palpable threat.

The Caretaker

Strong feelings about this one. This episode contains a lot of interpersonal stuff about how the Doctor treats people - And whether he uses them to die for him. Danny confronts the Doctor in amazing style, with all his experience from being a soldier. The robot was a bit cheap-looking and kiddy (it would have looked great in a Sarah-Jane Adventures story) and the main plot was a bit of a non-starter, but the character drama took centre stage.

Kill the Moon

Need to try not to think too hard about this one. Lots of weird inconsistencies and coincidences. For example, there are large creature living on the moon which are essentially germs, so they can be killed with a spray of anti-bac? Either I or the writers don't understand how anti-bac works, because I'm pretty sure that couldn't happen. Anti-bac spray creates an environment in which germs cannot survive. A large creature with complex anatomy isn't going to be felled like that. Also, it is a bit of a coincidence that a) that character happened to be holding a spray and b) they even thought to use it. And, while I like the idea that the moon is an egg for a space-creature, the idea that the creature leaves behind a brand-new egg, with exactly the same mass,  on the day of its birth is a bit of a stretch. That said, it was a genuinely new and brilliant idea, a great moral choice at the heart of the story and - from what I have written here - has stuck in my mind far more than many other episodes. I think if I can ignore the plot holes, this could be a great story.

Mummy on the Orient Express

Tricky one, this. Could be exceptional, but for The Doctor's callous attitude to other people's death. Need to reconsider that on a second viewing. But otherwise this was a great bit of period-charm silliness, a scary monster and a chilling tale. Seem to remember this story leaving unresolved issues.

Flatline

Probably my favourite episode from the series, so it has a lot to live up to. Playing around with the dimensionality of things, with monsters that only live in two dimension, while The Doctor is stuck in the Tardis, because the outer shell has materialised in too small a size. Good, creepy monster. Great settings and a good cast of characters.

In the Forest of the Night

My main memory of this is wondering why an overgrown London suddenly only seems to have about three people living in it. There was nothing in the plot about human disappearances, so why is the centre of the city suddenly no more than a quiet walk in Epping Forest? That aside, this is the episode where Doctor Who finally managed to include children in a story without them being really irritating. There was some controversy, as I recall, over the Doctor's assertion that children with behavioural problems shouldn't take their medicine. I think the plot was a bit ho-hum?

Dark Water

I can't think of this without it being coloured by the travesty that was Death in Heaven, but honestly I remember a very gripping, interesting set-up story. I can't remember what actually happened to fill 45 minutes, but I remember enjoying it. The final revelation of Missy as being The Master was a bit of a squib. It couldn't realistically have been anyone else, although I remember a brief moment of doubt during the episode when I thought it could be a Romana turned bad.

Death in Heaven

I was very disappointed by this, although again it's hard to remember why. Lots of silly plot holes. Cybermen from rainwater without any further explanation (if someone had even bothered to say Nanites I'd have at least felt they were trying to make it logical), also if the cybermen can be built from virtually nothing, why need people at all? The Master escapes and kills a character while armed soldiers in the background do nothing to stop her. Danny breaks his Cyberman programming because of his love for Clara - because of course all the other millions of Cybermen in history never loved anybody important. And a Cyberised Alasdair Lethbridge-Stewart appears, also having broken his programming. It seems hard to imagine the Cyber legions could maintain discipline with so many rogue units among their numbers. That said, I liked that the Master did it all as some kind of ill-judged gift for the Doctor - and, more importantly, I liked how tempted the Doctor was to use his new army. But overall I felt this episode was very badly judged and disappointing. But having said that, that was also my reaction to The Curse of the Black Spot and Let's Kill Hitler, both of which I have warmed to.

We'll see.