Doctor Who Unlocked: Twice Upon A Time

The episode opens with a recap of the 1966 First Doctor story The Tenth Planet, the story which introduced the Cybermen. The episodes lists this as '709 episodes' ago which refers to the first part of the serial. No footage is shown from Part 4 in the recap as this is one of the many episodes which doesn't exist in the archive. The regeneration scene is shown and that only exists because it was part of an episode of Blue Peter. 

In the original script for The Tenth Planet the Doctor refused to give in to his regeneration but it was not cut as director Derek Martinus was running short on time.

Mark Gatiss plays The Captain, his second credited role on Doctor Who- he played Lazarus in The Lazarus Experiment though he has had several uncredited appearances too- Gantok in The Wedding of River Song and the voice of Danny Boy in Victory of the Daleks and A Good Man Goes to War. He has also written a number of episodes (The Unquiet Dead, The Idiot's Lantern, Victory of the Daleks, Night Terrors, Cold War, The Crimson Horror, Robot of Sherwood, Sleep No More and Empress of Mars). He was the only Doctor Who writer to have appeared in the show until this episode.

Gatiss is joined here by fellow writer Toby Whithouse (School Reunion, The Vampires of Venice, The God Complex, A Town Called Mercy, Under the Lake/ Before the Flood and The Lie of the Land) who plays the German soldier.

The Captain's name is revealed to be Captain Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart, an ancestor of long-running Doctor Who character Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his daughter Kate Stewart.

The First Doctor complains that he thought his future self would be younger, a play on the fact both Peter Capaldi and William Hartnell were fifty-five years old when cast as the Doctor. Hartnell was 55 years, 10 months and 15 days old on his first appearance whilst Capaldi was slightly younger at 55 years, 7 months and 9 days old. Capaldi stayed in the role longer than Hartnell though and is nearly a year older than Hartnell was when he regenerated. David Bradley is much older than both at 75 years old.

The role is David Bradley's second in Doctor Who having played Solomon in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. He played William Hartnell in the 2013 docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time about the early days of Doctor Who. It was his role in this that led to Peter Capaldi's suggestion that he appear on the main show as the First Doctor.

Rusty the dalek returns here after his appearance in the Twelfth Doctor's second story Into the Dalek. His first line in Twice Upon A Time is the same as his last line of his first appearance: "I am not a good dalek. You are a good dalek".

This is not the first time the Doctor has been to the planet Villengard. Back in The Doctor Dances the Doctor noticed Captain Jack's weapon blaster came from there and said he destroyed the weapons factories and a banana grove replaced them.

Professor Helen Clay is from New Earth in the year 5,000,000,012 which is eleven years before the episode New Earth and 41 years before Gridlock.

The Twelfth Doctor has several nicknames for the First Doctor. Mary Berry refers to the former star of The Great British Bake Off who now makes various programmes for the BBC and Corporal Jone refers to Clive Dunn's character in Dad's Army. Mr Pastry was an accident-prone comedy character played by Richard Hearne, who was considered to play the Fourth Doctor.

On the First Doctor's console the name 'Bernard Wilkie' is fixed on tape. Wilkie was a visual effects designer in the early days of Doctor Who and also worked of other BBC series like Quatermass and the Pit.

We see a montage of clips from Doctor Who's past which includes footage from Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Arc of Infinity, The Happiness Patrol, The Parting of the Ways, Journey's End, The Waters of Mars, Night of the Doctor and The Day of the Doctor.

We also hear a number of the Doctor's nicknames. The Oncoming Storm (first used in The Parting of the Ways, the Imp of the Pandorica (referring to The Pandorica Opens), the Shadow of the Valeyard (the villain of The Trial of a Time Lord was a version of the Doctor), the Beast of Trenzalore (referring to The Time of the Doctor), the Butcher of Skull Moon (based on a Time War event mentioned in Hell Bent), the destroyer of Skaro (the Seventh Doctor helped destroy Skaro in Remembrance of the Daleks, though the planet has been seen several times in the new series) and the Last Tree of Garsenon, which we've not heard before.

In his final speech the Twelfth Doctor also uses the phrase "never be cruel or cowardly". This was first used by Doctor Who writer Terrance Dicks in his book The Making of Doctor Who: "He never gives in, and never gives up, however overwhelming the odds against him. The Doctor believes in good and fights evil. Though often caught up in violent situations, he is man of peace. He is never cruel or cowardly".

He also says "never eat pears" which is a reference to a line cut from Human Nature (Martha fast-forwards through it) which was originally used in Paul Cornell's novel of the same name. He also told Clara in Hell Bent not to eat pears as "they're too squishy and always make your chin wet."

The Doctor talks about children being able to hear his name and this is something that comes from Peter Capaldi himself. In April 2017 a young fan asked what the Doctor's real name is this is Capaldi's reply.

"I don't think human beings could even really say his name. But I think we might be able to hear it. At a certain frequency. If the stars are in the right place, and your heart's in the right place, you'll hear it"

The episode ends with Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor falling from the TARDIS, the interior of which is exploding. She should survive the fall as the Tenth Doctor showed in The Christmas Invasion that Time Lords can still heal for a while after their regeneration. The TARDIS is likely exploding so that it can be given a revamp for the new series.

The Shining Man

I enjoy reading the Doctor Who tie-in books. Many are of high quality but I think this is probably the best of the many I've read over the last twelve years.

The Shining Men are everywhere, scaring children on street corners with their long hair, blank faces and shining eyes. But surely it's just a hoax, idiots dressing up for fun. Except people are going missing and the link is the shining men. Cue the arrival of the Doctor and Bill.

Clearly the idea of the shining men came from the real world 'killer clown' craze. There's plenty about the police dealing with idiots dressed up and the fear caused by them. Mostly though this book imagines what it would be like if the creepy things were actually terrifying killers rather than people dressed up.

In terms of Doctor Who continuity this book is set after the first three episode of Series 10 (The Pilot, Smile and Thin Ice). There's also lots of references to things discussed and shown in the Torchwood episode 'Small Worlds'. I think it really adds something if you've seen that episode.

If you know said episode, you'll know it's about fairies. Indeed this book explores the idea of fairies in some depth, using some scientific Doctor-technobabble to explain some of it but still essentially being something from fantasy. Actually this has very few Doctor Who elements to it other than the Doctor and Bill being present and as well characterised as they are they don't do much. The Doctor is largely used as the character to explain the idea of fairies.

This had everything I wanted from a Doctor Who book. A good sci-fi/fantasy idea, warmth, humour, drama and a portion too ambitious to have appeared on TV. If you are enjoying Series 10 of Doctor Who and want some more, this is the place to head.

Series 10 Trailer Breakdown

At the end of The Return of Doctor Mysterio we got our first look at Series 10 of Doctor Who. I've taken some screenshots to give us a closer look at what's going on and speculate on what it might be telling us. You should be able to click on the image to see them a bit bigger

Bill says that she "serves chips". Obviously this doesn't tell us much but at least suggest Bill is from a fairly ordinary background like most recent companions. 

The Doctor is some sort of teacher or lecturer here. Maybe Bill is also a student and the chip serving is just a part-time job? That would explain how they end up meeting anyway. Is the Doctor undercover here a la School Reunion?

Nardole is still around. He doesn't appear too much in this trailer but he's certainly present. I would assume he will play a similar small role like in The Return of Doctor Mysterio and maybe doesn't leave the TARDIS in every episode.

An alien/ futuristic city. Looks pretty awesome but no idea what it actually is. 

This is one of many shots showing a historical episode. The Doctor and Bill are in historical dress for it. It's unclear exactly when/where it is but it looks maybe 18th or 19th century. 

A blue-skinned alien. Lots of shots from the trailer appear to be from this futuristic episode where the majority of the cast seem to be in some sort of spacesuit.

It's unclear where the Doctor and Bill are here. It looks to be some sort of vault or catacombs. It's enormous whatever it is.

This appears to be some sort of wooden alien. It looks a lot like the walking trees in The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe but it would be odd for them to return.

Smiley robots. These look friendly but I suspect they may end up being rather nasty. Note that their eyes are exclamation marks in this image. 

Very hard to get a clear screenshot of this. There's a big war involving the daleks and someone is thrown against a wall. It looks like a Movellan from Destiny of the Daleks. I might be tempted to suggest that it's just their hair but there are definitely two character in this shot with that hair. Maybe the Movellans are back!

Here's a closer look at those spacesuits from the futuristic episode. It's interesting that no characters are ever shown wearing a helmet so it's not clear why they are all wearing spacesuits. Nardole is here, the only time he's shown outside of the TARDIS in the trailer other than a brief encounter with a dalek.

The Doctor saves a small boy in the historical episode. What on Earth is the Doctor wearing here? It looks like a steampunk spacesuit. Maybe it's a diving suit but why is he wearing it?

Ther Doctor's wearing shades again. There's loads of people in the TARDIS here, more than ten by the looks of it, and they look like they might be monks or something similar. Has the Doctor rescued them? 

The Doctor punches someone! Full on punches them in the face! That's not normal is it? The set and costumes look historical so it is probably from the same episode we've seen a fair bit of. 

The Series looks a lot of fun in my mind and that's bearing in mind it doesn't look like we've seen much of it here. A tiny bit from a contemporary opening episode, a historical 18th/19th century episode, a futuristic in spacesuits episode and dalek war episode.Those last two may be one and the same and it's not clear where the city and the robots fit in either. Still, that's a long way a full series of episodes so there's a lot more to see!

Doctor Who Unlocked: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

The episode is based on the idea of Superman's alter-ego of Clark Kent and indeed Superman images appear in the episode. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and permission for the images was given by Jerry Siegel's family. The creators are then namechecked straight after the credits with Mr. Brock saying that any questions "can be handled by Miss Shuster and Miss Sigel".

The episode is set in New York but most of the external New York street shots were actually filmed in Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria.

On the street you might be able to make out the name of the film being shown at the cinema- it's Mind of Evil, named after the Third Doctor story of that name. Also on the street is Joe's Pizzas which is where Peter Parker worked in Spider-Man 2.

The Doctor references the famous Spider-Man line "With great power comes great responsibility".

The Doctor mentions how he always has invasions at Christmas. This references the various Christmas Specials such as The Christmas Invasion and The Runaway Bride where he has fought off Christmas Day invasions.

This episode follows on from The Husbands of River Song in various ways. Scratch in Husbands has similar physical characteristics and said "I represent the Shoal of the Winter Harmony" which is very similar to the company name Harmony Shoal.

Nardole returns, now with a full body again. In The Husbands of River Song his head was attached to Hydroflax but mention is made that the Doctor reassembled him.

Nardole tells Grant and Lucy about River Song and a night that lasted 24 years- he is referencing the end of The Husbands of River Song where the Doctor takes River to the Singing Towers of Darillium. He also mentions that River died in a library a long time ago. This happened in Forest of the Dead but was a long time ago for the Doctor.

The UNIT soldiers dealing with Harmony Shoal mention Osgood, the British UNIT scientist.

The episode title The Return of Doctor Mysterio is explained in the episode from what Grant calls the Doctor. In Mexico the show is known as 'Doctor Misterio' which Peter Capaldi discovered during the 2014 world tour, much to his delight. Writer Steven Moffat recalled that delight and used in for the episode.

Haunted

Every year the Doctor Who website runs an "Adventure Calendar" during December and as part of that releases a new short story. This year we have the brilliant Haunted, released in three parts. 

It's really good. 13 year-old Ross is dared to go into the school basement where a ghost is thought to exist. Next thing he knows he meets a man called the Doctor and finds out whether ghosts are real. 

The plot of this is rather good. You can't do a traditional Doctor Who story in a short story, there isn't really time, and Lidster wisely gives us something a little different. It's well told, both managing to be convincing as something written by a 13-year-old but still flowing well. 

The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor is perfect. He's that grumpy version of the Doctor, but still Doctor-ish. It's also completely in continuity after the Series 9 finale so there's a couple of neat little references to that.

I suspect these short stories aren't read by that many people but this one deserves to be because it's excellent.

Download for free:  Part One    Part Two    Part Three

Deep Time

A Twelfth Doctor Glamour Chronicles novel by Trevor Baxendale

I've loved all of Baxendale's Doctor Who books and this one was no different. As part of their mission to track down the mysterious Glamour, the Twelfth Doctor and Clara join the crew of the exploratory ship the Alexandria. They crew are following the last Phareon road, a wormhole created by an ancient, mysterious race.

For Doctor Who, this is pretty hard sci-fi. It features dangerous and gritty space travel, time fluctuations, an alien planet and a fair bit of pretty up to date psychics. This may put off some people but I thought it worked really well. For me it felt quite like the Alien-prequel film, Prometheus, with a similar atmosphere and mission, although the crew here are considerably more competent and likable than the crew of Prometheus.

The Doctor and Clara are well portrayed here, especially Clara. Baxendale really manages to get inside her head, something you can't do on TV, and it works wonderfully. What really makes the book are the other members of the crew. There's an element of Firefly about many of the characters, which is definitely no bad thing. Ray Balfour, the billionaire funding the mission, is fairly typical of sci-fi books whereas 'astrogator' Jem is considerably less so. Together the crew feel like real people with real histories and goals. 

In summary, I loved it. There's no way that all Doctor Who should be such hard science-fiction but on occasion it's great. For me, this felt like a high-budget TV episode, which is exactly what you want from a Doctor Who book.

Four Doctors

A Multi-Doctor event! In comics! 

Here Titan Comics three main Doctor Who issues come together. The Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors along with their companions Gabby, Alice and Clara team-up, which you know means bad shit is going down. Here it's a picture of the three Doctors arguing which is going to cause the end of the universe. 

The plot itself is OK- I loved the first four issues but the resolution is not great. The main enemies are the Vvord, monsters from the classic 60s story The Keys of Marinus, although their look has been improved somewhat. It also focuses on the person leading them, a character I didn't really like in that role. 

What makes this shine is the usual things you get from a multi-Doctor event. For one, it's the joy of having the Doctors and their companions interact with each other. Twelve has yet to meet any past incarnations so it's fun to see how he deals with his immediate predecessors here. It's also good to have Gabby and Alice, the two Titan Comics original companions, involved as much as Clara. 

The other thing you want from a multi-Doctor event is a celebration of the show and we certainly get that here. Cornell re-uses the Reapers, the monsters from his TV episode Father's Day and both the War Doctor and the Ninth Doctor make quick cameos. It really has that celebration feel that a crossover event should have. 

The biggest downside of this is the artwork. It's not bad and the monster and landscape pages look brilliant. But the characters often don't look much like the actors that play them (especially Matt Smith, who I get the impression is especially difficult to draw). It's not all the way through, so I suspect it's less a case of a poor artist and more a rushed one.

A really great crossover event, but I'd suspect nothing less of Paul Cornell!

Series 9 Prologue

A prologue to series 9 has been released, showing the Doctor visit the Sisterhood of Karn once again. You can view the prologue here.

It raises far more questions than answers. The Doctor is hiding from an old enemy, though it's never revealed who that enemy is. You would assume it was the Master but given the fact they are described as 'he' makes you think it's unlikely to be the Missy-incarnation of the character. It's also suggested that the Doctor and this person have been enemies all their lives, which seemingly rules out virtually all other contenders- hardly any enemies have appeared more than a handful of times.

I have one theory on the subject- it's Death. It would make sense that the Doctor has been enemies with death all his life and if he's going into great peril it also makes sense the way the Doctor says "an enemy is just a friend you havn't got to know yet". It would also work with the gender problem, as Death is usually described as male.

If this is true, I doubt it means we will actually see a Grim Reaper-type figure on the screen- I suspect it's more the concept of death that the Doctor is fighting.

There is also going to be another prologue, a US exclusive it appears (until the box set presumably), entitled The Doctor's Meditation which looks to follow straight on from this prologue.

Also, I'm really pleased the BBC are finally calling these things prologues instead of prequels!

Doctor Who at Comic Con 2015

Doctor Who has become a staple of San Diego Comic Con in recent years and this year was no different. Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez and Steven Moffat were all in attendance and we were given some real treats. 

First up was more details on Doctor Who's role in the upcoming Lego Dimensions game. I think most people who knew about it were quite excited about the prospect, but this trailer really blew us all away:

The game sees a Lego version of the Doctor interact with a crowd of other famous characters, like Batman, Scooby-Doo and Homer Simpson. Capaldi, Coleman and Gomez all lend their voices and you can play as all thirteen incarnations of the Doctor. The attention to detail is superb as the TARDIS interior will change depending on which version of the Doctor you are playing as.

There are a number of Doctor Who levels in the main game and an additional level pack, and fun pack, will be available to purchase separately. The game is released across all the main consoles on 27th September.

 

Then the excitement grew when we were treated to a trailer for Series 9 at the Doctor Who panel. It looks like the BBC has listened to criticism from previous years and has released the trailer shown at the panel online and given us a firm airdate, September 19th. 

It all looks very exciting, although frankly gives very little away. I've taken the liberty of taking a few screenshots of some of the most interesting moments.

The Doctor rocks out!

A daleks are back!

We are told that a dalek city appears in Series 9 and given that this resembles the dalek city seen in the original 1963 dalek story, we'd guess this is it.

We don't know what this is, but it's terrifying!

We get a few glances at Missy

Maisie Williams in Series 9

The moment that caused the most speculation is the final scene featuring Maisie Williams. "You!" exclaims the Doctor. "What took you so long, old man?" says the mysterious character. But who is she?

Potentially she could be a new character but the dialogue and the fact we are teased at the very end of the trailer suggests differently. Now given that Maisie Williams hasn't appeared before it seems likely this is a character in a new regeneration. The number of female Time Lords that have appeared is pretty small so let's speculate:

- Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter. Last seen left on Earth to start a new life and clean up after a dalek invasion. The age works well- you can imagine Williams as Capaldi's granddaughter. She was also present in the original dalek city, so given that the city is being revisited why shouldn't the character too.

- Jenny, the Doctor's (accidental) daugher. Last seen flying off in space, believed dead by the Doctor. She's a more recent character which may be in favour. However, although we know Jenny can regenerate life-force as she does at the end of The Doctor's Daughter, we have no evidence that she can regenerate into a new body. I think. And I suspect if Jenny does ever appear, Georgia Tennant nee Moffat would be the one to play her!

- The Rani- A female evil Time Lord. Unlikely, given the Master now fills that role, that Williams is very unlike Kate O'Mara and that Steven Moffat has said he doesn't want to bring the character back.

- River Song- As far as we know we have seen all of River's regenerations- small child, then Mel, then Alex Kingston. We don't know for certain that the child did regenerate into Mel but that seems likely.

- Romana- Companion to the Doctor. Given that Jenna Coleman is likely to leave in the near future this is the other possibility for Williams to take on a companion role. Williams doesn't come across like the well-spoken, elegant Romana we know and love though. And as far as we know Romana is still on Gallifrey, wherever that is these days.

- Another Doctor relation- Given we don't know who Susan's mother and grandmother were, could Williams be playing one of them. It would be a bit weird if she played the grandmother, considering then she would have a romantic connection to Capaldi. But the Doctor's original daughter, mother of Susan, is possible, if unlikely.

These have pretty much been ordered in terms of likelihood. I still think Susan is the best bet.

I guess only time will tell...

The Doctor and the Dalek

I realise I am a bit late on this one but having recently purchased a new tablet I finally downloaded the excellent game “The Doctor and the Dalek”.

Ostensibly this is a computer programming game aimed at children- programming is a big part of the latest National Curriculum. However, the programming aspect is only a part of the gameplay and like the show the game is child-friendly but equally enjoyable for adults.

In a plot written by Phil Ford, the Twelfth Doctor (actually voiced by Peter Capaldi in the game) finds himself teamed up with a dalek which has malfunctioned and is now “good”. You control the dalek, sending it through the tombs of the cybermen, the clone chambers of the sontarans and the belly of the dalek-infested Time Lord ship the Starbane to collect the pieces of an ancient artefact.

The story is fairly simple but there’s a great twist at the end which I didn’t really expect. Most of the game features fairly standard 2D platforming as you travel through the various levels, hovering and exterminating enemies which get in your way. Most players will be familiar with this type of gameplay- it’s like a Doctor Who version of Mario.

During each level there is a programming section. In these sections you select instructions for the dalek so it can either collect an object or exterminate all the enemies. It starts off fairly simple with a tutorial but gradually increases in difficulty throughout the levels. The best thing about it is that their is always an obvious solution but the challenge is in putting in the fewest number of instructions to complete the level. The programming challenges are also available outside of the main gameplay by clicking “TARDIS Training” on the home screen.

My only complaint about the game really is the length- there aren’t that many levels and if you know what you are doing it won’t take very long to complete. Still, considering this is something for nothing it is really rather good and I recommend it to all Doctor Who fans. I really hope the BBC do more of this sort of thing in the not too distant future!

You can play on your computer or on a tablet by downloading an app from the Apple, Amazon or Google Play stores.

The Return of Missy

It was today confirmed that Michelle Gomez will return as Missy, the Time Lord previously known as the Master, in Series 9 of Doctor Who. Not that this was a huge shock to most of us seeing as though Gomez revealed the news in an interview a few months ago.

 

What is bigger news is the details of her return. She is going to appear in the first two episodes of Series 9, which will be a two-parter. We already knew that the first part would be called The Magician's Apprentice and it was today revealed that part two will be called The Witch's Familiar. 

This brings lots of questions to mind. Obviously a major one is how did she survive her death in Death in Heaven? I'm not too sure on the answer to this but I suspect it'll be fairly simple, given that Steven Moffat had always planned that she would return. It seems likely her "escape" was planned at the same time as her apparent death. 

The title is intriguing. Now I have assumed that The Magician's Apprentice refers to Clara, being the apprentice to the Doctor's magician. Now The Witch's Familiar sort of makes me think that "Witch" refers to Missy. But then who is her familiar? Could it be that Missy is getting a companion of her own? Or maybe in typical cruel Moffat fashion, both titles could refer to the same person- maybe Clara, or maybe a new character. 

It's also interesting to note that it's a two-parter. The first block of filming was a Toby Whithouse two-parter, which I think is supposed to be episodes 3 and 4 of the series. This suggests then that Series 9 might only consist of two-part stories- six two-parters?

It was also confirmed today that Jemma Redgrave will return as head of UNIT Kate Stewart. It's fun to see the Master vs. UNIT theme coming back after how good it was back in 1971. I wonder maybe if Series 9 will replicate Season 8 of Classic Doctor Who in that the Master/Missy will appear in every story? This seems possible from what we know so far.

Well there's a few things to think about. Whether my suggestions turn out to be true or not, I can't wait to see Missy back in action!

Review: Behind You By Mark Williams

2014's short Doctor Who Christmas story (available here) sees the Twelfth Doctor go to a pantomime. 

It has a surreal threat, involving animal-headed humans, and has lots of pantomime based humour which actually really suited the Twelfth Doctor (who obviously dislikes pantomimes). For a short story the Twelfth Doctor was really well characterised. 

As with any short Doctor Who story, the biggest issue here is length. If the idea is decent it deserves to be given time to be enjoyed. There is potential here for a whole novel but we only get a few hundred words and that is frustrating. 

A fun little story which has a lot going for it. A great use of the Twelfth Doctor too!

Doctor Who Unlocked: Last Christmas

Every episode of Doctor Who has much more than meets the eye so I like to put together a little post exploring links to the past and other things you might not have known about! 

WARNING: Contains Spoilers

Last Christmas is the 10th Christmas Special in a row for Doctor Who. It is Peter Capaldi's first, Jenna Coleman's third, and Steven Moffat's fifth.

It is the 11th episode to air on Christmas day- the first was The Feast of Steven, part of The Daleks' Master Plan, which aired on 25th December 1965.

It is also the third christmas special in a row to feature actor Dan Starkey- he plays Ian the Elf. He also played his usual character Strax in The Snowmen (2012) and played several Sontaran warriors in The Time of the Doctor (2013).

Michael Troughton plays Professor Albert. He's the son of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton and his brother David Troughton has appeared in Doctor Who several times. The last time he was also a professor, Professor Hobbes in Midnight (2007).

Santa Claus is played by Nick Frost. His friend and regular collaborator Simon Pegg has also appeared in Doctor Who, as the Editor in The Long Game (2005).

The Doctor helps 'old Clara' pull a cracker which is a reference to The Time of the Doctor (2013) when Clara had to help the aged Eleventh Doctor pull one.

Clara is told not to salute. The Doctor has not liked being saluted for a while (see the likes of The Sontaran Strategm [2009]) and mostly recently protested against it in Death in Heaven (2014).

The episode plays homage to the film Alien (1979) and mentions it several times (in the dream scenes and on Shona's list). The film famously starred John Hurt, who played the War Doctor, who suffered a nasty end thanks to the titular alien.

A Message From the Doctor

Peter Capaldi made this message for a 9 year old autistic boy whose grandmother had just died. What a man!

Review: Silhouette by Justin Richards

One of the first Twelfth Doctor novels, this book sees Peter Capaldi's Doctor and companion Clara head to Victorian London to investigate a mysterious power spike. Inevitably they meet up with the Paternoster Row gang, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax as they investigate a series of murders. 

I always think a sci-fi story set in the Victorian era works rather well and this is another example. The story is mostly set around a Frost Fair and Carnival of Curiosities, a magical setting which is so perfect for Doctor Who. The villain is rather good, a properly despicable Victorian villain that you really dislike. Although there's no monsters as such there are some interesting characters with special abilities, all of which are fantastic creations, yet somehow not outrageous. 

I felt at times that the character of the Twelfth Doctor wasn't particularly accurate, but I suspect the author had little to do on and managed a decent if not entirely successful attempt. Clara is good here which is nice to see although I did feel the Paternoster Row trio weren't needed here. In the TV show there's always been a strong reason for them being in the episode, that they affect the story in some way, but here it feels like the plot would have been pretty much identical without their presence. They are well characterised though and as usual Strax has some really funny moments. 

The first set of novels for a new Doctor also suffer from the author only knowing the basics to what the new character is like and how the series will feel but actually Richards gives us a really enjoyable Victorian Doctor Who story.

Review: Lights Out by Holly Black

An e-short was published last year, one for each Doctor so now that we have a Twelfth Doctor played by the wonderful Peter Capaldi there's an e-short for him too. This one is written by Spiderwick Chronicles author Holly Black. 

The story is set between the first two episodes of Series 8, Deep Breath and Into the Dalek and sees the recently re-generated Twelfth Doctor go to an intergalactic coffee house to get some coffee for Clara. When bodies start appearing he grabs the story's narrator "Fifty-One" to help him investigate. 

In my mind this is just as good as the best of the other e-shorts. It's very dark and manages to contain a real surprise in it. The tone fits in with that of Series 8 really well and Black manages to capture the Twelfth Doctor's character well too, which is impressive given how little of the incarnation she must have seen when she wrote the story. 

As ever there are some continuity nods, mostly in the form of cameos and mentions from various Doctor Who races. I'm pretty sure Black must have set a record for number of Doctor Who alien species mentioned in a short story. 

A short but fantastic story which fans of the new Doctor will love.

Doctor Who Unlocked: Mummy on the Orient Express

Every episode of Doctor Who has much more than meets the eye so I like to put together a little post exploring links to the past and other things you might not have known about! 

WARNING: Contains Spoilers

The Doctor tells Clara that there have been many attempts to entice him to the train and says “He even phoned the TARDIS once”. This happened at the very end of The Big Bang (2010) when the TARDIS phone rang and the Eleventh Doctor can be heard saying “An Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express, in space? We’re on our way!”.

The Doctor inevitably says to the Foretold “Are you my Mummy?”. He is of course referenced what the reanimated Jamie says in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (2005). The Tenth Doctor also says the phrase when wearing a gasmask in The Poison Sky (2008).

Comedian Frank Skinner plays Perkins in the episode. Skinner is a huge Doctor Who fan and made a cameo appearance in The Five Doctors (Reboot). You can see visible joy on his face when Peter Capaldi introduces himself as the Doctor.

Professor Moorhouse is played by Christopher Villers and has been in Doctor Who before, as Hugh Fitzwilliam in Fifth Doctor story The King’s Demons (1984). Janet Henfrey, who plays Mrs Pitt, is also a returning actor having played Miss Hardraker in The Curse of Fenric (1989).

The singer is played by grammy-award winning singer Foxes (aka Louisa Rose Allen). The full version of the song, complete with accompanying clips from Series 8, can be seen here.

The fact that she sings Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” continues something of a running joke where people in the future completely mess up when selecting songs from the past. Don’t Stop Me Now was released much later than the original Orient Express was around in the same way that few would consider Britney Spears “Toxic” a classic like it is described in The End of the World (2005).

It is not the first time a mummy has appeared in Doctor Who. In The Pyramids of Mars (1975) the Fourth Doctor faced robots disguised as mummies and the Eleventh Doctor more recently faced a mummy-like creature in The Rings of Akhaten (2013).

The Doctor offers Moorhouse a jelly baby, something he has done regularly since 1967’s The Dominators. The Fourth Doctor offered jelly babies many times but most of the Doctor’s incarnations have offered the sweet at some point. 

Doctor Who Unlocked: Kill the Moon

Every episode of Doctor Who has much more than meets the eye so I like to put together a little post exploring links to the past and other things you might not have known about! 

WARNING: Contains Spoilers

The Doctor says that Courtney will marry a feller called Blinovitch. The Blinovitch Limitation Effect refers to at least one principle of time travel and was introduced in Day of the Daleks (1972) and mentioned again in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974) and Mawdryn Undead (1983).

This is not the first time the Doctor has used a yo-yo to test local gravity- he did the very same thing in his fourth incarnation in The Ark in Space (1975). The Fourth Doctor then regularly used for fun.

The Doctor says that “the Earth isn’t my home”. He used those exact words in The Pyramids of Mars (1975).

Tony Osoba plays Duke and has previously appeared in Doctor Who as Lan in Destiny of the Daleks (1979) and as Kracauer in Dragonfire (1987).

Filming for the episode took place on the Canary Island of Lanzarote. It is the second time Doctor Who has filmed there- the first was in 1984 when it doubled for the planet Sarn in Planet of Fire. 

Vortex manipulators are mentioned in the episode. These are wrist-straps from the future of Earth which allow the user to travel through time. Both Captain Jack Harkness and River Song have used them but the Doctor disproved of them, called them space hoppers compared to his sports car.

The Doctor mentions how humans will still be around at the end of the universe, something we saw evidence of in Utopia (2007).