The Crimson Horror

This week the Doctor and Clara take a trip up North and are joined by Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax to fight Mrs Gillyflower and the Crimson Horror! As usual there will be spoilers so if you haven’t yet seen the episode I suggest you look away now!

The episode began with the Paternoster Row gang deciding they should head up to Yorkshire after the image of the Doctor is imprinted on a dead man’s eye. And it is no ordinary corpse as the man’s skin is bright red. They begin to investigate, sending Jenny in to pose as a potential worker at the mysterious Sweetville factory. Eventually she finds the Doctor, virtually paralysed and with bright red skin. It turns out Mrs Gillyflower has a symbiotic relationship with an evolved form of an ancient leech and is planning to wipe out humanity with leech poison, preserving only the best looking for her new world using a diluted version.

All in all, a bonkers episode! Interestingly fans seem to have a rather split opinion on it. The thing with this episode is that it didn’t try to do anything particularly new and had no part to play in the plot arc, it was just a jolly good romp. Should Doctor Who be allowed to do that? Well that’s up to you but for me it has always been part of the show and always should be!

The episode had a heavy focus on the Paternoster Row gang. We first met them in 2011’s A Good Man Goes to War. Back then Strax, the Sontaran, had been forced to be a nurse during a war by the Doctor, knowing how much of an insult he would see it as. Jenny is a Victorian Chambermaid with a very intimate relationship with Silurian Madame Vastra.

The trio then returned to fight the Great Intelligence in The Snowmen and made their third appearance in this episode. It’s not the last we’ll see of them either as they will be back in the series finale, The Name of the Doctor. The trio are great fun- Vastra and Jenny are pretty bad-ass, as Jenny demonstrated today. Strax is hilarious, largely because he is a warrior who doesn’t get to do much fighting. The funniest moment of the episode involved Strax, when a small boy told him detailed directions much like a Satnav. When asked his name the boy said it was “Thomas, Thomas”. TomTom, geddit?

The great guest cast was rounded off by Diana Rigg and her daughter Rachel Stirling. Rigg is best known for her role as Emma Peel in British spy drama The Avengers and as a Bond Girl in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service but the modern audience might know her better for her role in Game of Thrones. Diana Rigg was excellent as the sinister Mrs Gillyflower- interestingly this is the first time in her whole career where she got to speak in her real accent. Mark Gatiss wrote the episode especially for the mother and daughter.

As with the rest of this run, tonight’s episode featured some references to the show’s past. The first came when talking about the eye of a dead person retaining an image of the last thing it sees. The Fourth Doctor discussed this is the fantastic story The Ark in Space and he too said it was not impossible and managed to access the last image. A bigger reference came when the Doctor spoke to Clara about a gobby Australian. This harks back to the Fifth Doctor era when companion Tegan was desperate to get to Heathrow Airport to become an air-hostess. She eventually made it there in Time-Flight. The Doctor even says “Braveheart, Clara” just like he used to say to Tegan.

The final scene of the episode was a little unusual as it seemed only to serve the purpose of setting up the next episode. Angie and Artie, the two children Clara nannies for had found photos of her from Cold War and Hide.That’s the trouble with only travelling to the fairly recent past, you might get noticed! Angie and Artie will join the Doctor and Clara in next week’s episode, which is written by Neil Gaiman and sees the return and re-invention of the Cybermen. Gaiman’s last Who episode, The Doctor’s Wife, quickly became a fan favourite and from the reviews so far this looks like it will do the same.

More on that next week though! Angie and Artie also managed to find a photo of the Victorian version of Clara. It is the first time modern Clara has any inclination there might be another version of her. The Doctor has not exactly been subtle about it either, visiting a empathetic psychic and trying to get back to Victorian London to solve the mystery. It seems possible that during the course of the next episode Clara is going to find out about the other hers, or if not then than in the finale.

That’s all for today but do join us next week for Nightmare in Silver!

Hide

I misjudged my calculation on my TARDIS and have ended up a day later than I meant to. Still, better late than never, here’s some thoughts and discussion on the latest episode of Doctor Who, Hide. It’s a spooky one. Kind of. It will contain spoilers of course so if you haven’t yet seen the episode, I suggest you hide (see what I did there?)

So, Hide. This was one of those episodes of Doctor Who that continually messed with your expectations. The Doctor and Clara arrive in 1974 in part of a ghost story. After an appearance from the “ghost” we learn it’s no ghost but a time traveller trapped in a pocket universe, being chased by a monster. Eventually the gang manage to rescue her and then the Doctor finally realises the monster isn’t chasing her, it is trying to get home to be with it’s partner. So it’s not a ghost story, it’s a love story. Only Doctor Who could make that happen!

Part of the love story comes from the guest characters, Alec Palmer and Emma Grayling. It’s rare that we get such a well characterised guest cast but writer Neil Cross managed to do it this week. The unusual approach of having the Doctor already know who they are worked a treat. Alec Palmer (Dougray Scott) was formerly a spy and he caused lots of deaths during his time with the service. A bit like the Doctor, he was trying to do something to counteract his past. Emma Grayling (Jessica Raine) was an even better character, an empathetic physic, a woman who can sense feelings but therefore lives a difficult life. The two characters were made for each other and finally became an item thanks to Clara and the Doctor. Incidentally, Jessica Raine will play Verity Lambert in the upcoming Doctor Who making of drama An Adventure in Space and Time.

The other part of the love story came from the hideous creature that is apparently called “The Crooked Man”. It was a great example of the old saying “never judge a book by its cover” and just because it is an ugly creature doesn’t mean it isn’t capable of love! How sweet!

This episode contained a direct reference to the Third Doctor era with the blue crystal from Metebelis III. The Doctor first picked one of these crystals up during the course of The Green Death and it was a central part of the plot in Planet of the Spiders which led to the Doctor’s regeneration. The crystals have psychic powers, hence there inclusion in this story- although it does mean the Doctor has returned to Metebelis III since that regeneration. Some fans noted Matt Smith’s mispronunciation of the name, although I would have to question whether he got it right and it was actually Jon Pertwee would pronounced it wrong…

We had some more development with Clara relationship with the TARDIS. Clara still senses that the TARDIS doesn’t like her but there’s no real evidence that it true. If the TARDIS doesn’t like Clara, is it just because she’s new like the Doctor said or because of what she is- the same way that it tried to shake off Captain Jack because he’s an anomaly. Maybe Hide was the end of this dislike though as the TARDIS did open it’s doors to let Clara travel into the pocket universe to rescue the Doctor. I’m sure we will find out for certain next week in a story largely set within the TARDIS!

Once again we didn’t really find out anything to explain the mystery of Clara. Emma Grayling decided she was a normal girl and nothing out of the ordinary. It did spark off a new mystery which we will be seeing much more of as time goes one. Emma said the Doctor had “a sliver of ice in his heart”. Steven Moffat has said that the 50th anniversary special will reveal a dark secret that the Doctor has. I haven’t the slightest idea what that might be though!

Next week is an exciting episode as we take a Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. Join us then!

Cold War

It issss once again time to analysssse another epissssode of Doctor Who! Thissss week it’ssss time to board a sssubmarine with an Ice Warrior! OK, enough of speaking like an Ice Warrior, it’ll soon get boring and I’ll wear out by “s” key. As usual there’ll be spoilers so if you haven't seen the episode yet I suggest you don’t read on!

Before anything else, I feel a little bit of history on the Ice Warriors is necessary. They first appeared in 1967 when the Doctor Who team weren’t allowed to use daleks as the pepperpots were being used in films. Various monsters were created and Ice Warriors were quite possible the best. In The Ice Warriors the Second Doctor and his companions Jamie and Victoria found the Ice Warriors frozen in ice in the Earth’s future where a new Ice Age had occurred. It was actually Victoria that named them Ice Warriors and the Martians don’t seem to mind. The trio faced them again in The Seeds of Death when they tried to use the trans-mat system to take over the Earth and then the Third Doctor bumped into them in The Curse of Peladon where they had renounced their old ways. In The Monster of Peladon though a rogue faction of Ice Warriors had gone back to the old ways.

That was in 1974 and the Ice Warriors haven’t been seen on screen since. Until now that is. Mark Gatiss had been desperate to bring the Icw Warriors back in the new series but showrunner and friend Steven Moffat wasn’t so sure. Then Gatiss came up with the idea that made the Ice Warriors scarier- they can come out of their armour. Yep, here Skaldak leaves his armour and runs around the Soviet submarine finding out about humans by killing them. The master-stroke was the creepy hands hanging over people’s heads. Suddenly the Ice Warriors have become a whole lot scarier!

I’ve been scratching my head trying to work out a timeline for the Ice Warriors. This is technically the earliest in time we’ve ever seen them and Skaldak had been in the ice 5,000 years. All the other episodes were set far in the future, though Varga and co in The Ice Warriors had been there for “centuries”. Maybe Varga and Skaldak come from a similar time? All we know is that they were once a great empire, they weren’t for a huge proportion of humanity’s life and then they were again. There’s still plenty of room for expansion of their story and I hope we get some of that in the not so distant future.

This episode is the first one where Clara was in real danger. It’s the first episode of Series 7 Part 2 where we actually had some deaths, and even then there were only three, a relatively low body count for the show. It was great to see how terrified by it all she was and how much she enjoyed the whole saving the world thing. There is pretty much no further clues to help solve her mystery. The only thing I picked up on was when the Professor asked her what hobbies she had and she couldn’t come up with an answer. Clara’s life before the Doctor seems disturbingly empty. She was quite scared at the time though so it could mean nothing!

I have noticed something which may be vitally important to the series arc or might be a coincidence. In this episode there is a direct quote from Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”:

“What do you want from me?”

“Much”

In The Rings of Akhaten there was a quote from “Alice in Wonderland” and someone I was watching with reckoned there was a quote from “The Woman in Black” in the preview for next week’s episode, Hide. I don’t remember any book quotes in The Bells of Saint John although there was the obvious mention of the book by Amelia Williams. Are these book links a clue? Or is this just another Doctor Who coincidence?

For me the highlight of Cold War, apart from Skaldak of course, was David Warner’s professor. Most of the submarine crew weren’t particularly fascinating characters but the professor was great. He was good fun what with being an old Russian man who loved Ultravox and Duran Duran but he was also a caring character who was really sweet. The two-hander with him and Clara was brilliant! Definitely guest star of the week!

One final thing is when the Doctor talks about resetting HADS on the TARDIS he pretty much repeats what he said way back in the 1969 story The Krotons! Few other shows can do continuity like Doctor Who does!

That is it for this week but do join us next week for the creepy ghost story, Hide!

The Rings of Akhaten

Hello and welcome to another post new Doctor Who episode discussion! This week the Doctor takes Clara to her first alien planet. As usual there’ll be spoilers so if you haven’t seen the episode yet I suggest you look away now!

The Rings of Akhaten was written by Neil Cross, who is based in New Zealand and wrote Luther and quite a few episodes of Spooks. The episode has split the fandom, with some absolutely loving it and some absolutely hating it. Personally I am more leaning towards the hating it side of things but there were still plenty of things to love!

First of all, the pre-credits sequence, which saw the Doctor pretty much stalking Clara’s Mum and Dad. He was making sure Clara was definitely human and normal and it seems she is. The secret of the leaf is revealed and it turns out not to be something sci-fi at all but simply a symbol of her parent’s relationship when said leaf hit her Dad in the eye. And then we discover that Clara’s mother died when she was a child, giving us some great emotional context for the new companion.

The Rings of Akhaten are an asteroid belt, full of many varying alien races. And it’s now time for alien safari- here’s all the alien races that are ‘named’ in the episode:

The story itself revolves around saving a little girl from being sacrificed to what is pretty much a god. I must mention what a brilliant little actress and singer the girl is- her name is Emilia Jones and she is the daughter of infamous Welsh choral singer Aled Jones. The currency in Akhaten is sentimental items and Clara gives up both the leaf and her mother’s ring to save the day. For once the companion has some empathy with the idea of the Doctor’s loss of his own people. And speaking of which, what an incredible speech Matt Smith gave on that subject:

“I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things… I walked away from the last great Time War, I marked the passing of the Time Lords, I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment until nothing remained, no time, no space, just me. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a mad man. I watched universes freeze and creations burn, I have seen things you wouldn’t believe, I have lost things you will never understand - and I know things, secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken… knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! So come on then! Take it!”

OK, now some things to notice in this episode. Firstly, the Doctor mentioned he’d been to the Rings of Akhaten before, with his grand-daughter. The Doctor’s grand-daughter, Susan, appeared with the First Doctor and was left in London in the year 2164 to help rebuild civilisation after a dalek invasion with her new boyfriend. Maybe she’ll make a return one day?

The Doctor claimed he had nothing of sentimental value on him, except his sonic screwdriver, but that’s not exactly true as he must still have Amy Pond’s reading glasses on him (he had them when he was watching Clara’s parents after all). The Doctor simply cannot part from them!

There wasn’t much in terms of solving the mystery of Clara in this episode, although maybe there is a clue when she says that the TARDIS doesn’t like her. The TARDIS is a living thing and theoretically could try to stop someone getting in. As it can see through time and space it probably knows the secret behind Clara and might not like it. But then again you always need a key to get into the TARDIS and Clara doesn’t have one yet. In fact she’s not really reached companion status yet and is dropped home at the end of the episode, which seems a bit odd. The part-time companion thing worked well for Amy and Rory in the first half of series 7 but it doesn’t feel quite right with Clara. Maybe next episode will see her enter the TARDIS permanently?

That’s all here for this week but join me next week as I discuss The Cold War, where the Ice Warriors are back in their first appearance since 1974- expect some Doctor Who history within it!

Doctor Who Book Club

Today I am discussing a selection of Doctor Who books which have been released recently.

The Silurian Gift by Mike Tucker (Quick Reads)

As a quick read, this is great! It sees the Doctor use his UNIT connections to investigate an Antarctic power station claiming to have a new fuel to solve all the world's energy problems (although why the Doctor doesn't just go in the TARDIS is beyond me). It soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems (it never is) and the Silurians are involved. As usual, there's conflict between the humans and the Silurians and some indivduals of each species just make matters worse. There's a nice surprise half way through and the return of the Myrka which is good fun.

This isn't that original but it doesn't need to be. It's action packed and almost feels like it could be a Second or Third Doctor story but for the presence of the Eleventh Doctor, who is characterised well here. As with most solo Doctor stories we get a temporary companion, in the form of a journalist called Lizzie. Lizzie is an interesting character who has some major flaws which the Doctor is very disappointed to discover.

As a full length novel this would be a disappointment but as one of the Quick Reads series this is excellent- lots for fans of classic Who, lots of action and some typical witty lines from the Doctor. A great and easy read. ★★★★★

 

The Dalek Project by Justin Richards

This Doctor Who graphic novel sees the Doctor comes face to face with the daleks in the middle of the First World War. Initially the story is not that dissimilar to the Series 5 TV episode "Victory of the Daleks" but after a while it does take a different direction as the daleks plan is much bigger than it first appears.

The daleks are at their manipulative best here and look brilliant, as does every part of the artwork. For some reason their speech just doesn't quite work the same in comic form- that feeling probably wasn't helped by the fact they do talk quite a lot. The Doctor's characterisation isn't great here, probably because it's quite hard to put the long speeches into speech bubbles so they are limited. Considering he is really supposed to hate the daleks, for the most part he here he doesn't seem that bothered.

It has fantastic art and some brilliant dalek moments but the relatively weak plots lets this down a bit. For the most part, it's just the same old threat that's easily beaten. ★★★☆☆

The Nameless City by Michael Scott (50th Anniversary E-short #2)

This is much better than the First e-short, A Big Hand For The Doctor. When Jamie brings the Second Doctor a book, he doesn't realise it will lead to terrible danger as the TARDIS is dragged to a glass city where the Archons want to get revenge on the Time Lords.

It's a great adventure which feels very much like it belongs in the Second Doctor era. Jamie is characterised well, and Scott uses the medium to share some of his thoughts and they feel right. The moment the Second Doctor arrives it feels just like Troughton is on screen. Scott is clearly a big fan of the era.

Scott does mess with a few things though, some of which is good and some not so good. The archons claim to be behind Time Travel which perhaps conflicts a little with "The Three Doctors" but is sort of acceptable. There's an appearance from (view spoiler) who of course never actually met the Second Doctor but only Jamie meets him here so it works rather well. Something that doesn't work so well is the TARDIS speaking records. The TARDIS has never ever done this and it doesn't fit very well in the book. There is also a link to the new series with there being a mention of a swimming pool somewhere in the TARDIS.

All in all a great adventure for the Second Doctor and Jamie, a little rushed perhaps but on the whole a great short read. ★★★★★

I’ll leave you with an exciting promo image for the new series (note the monsters shown in the shards of glass):

Top 10 First Doctor Stories

Everyone loves a list! This one contains my ten favourite First Doctor stories- I’ve only selected them from the complete stories. For those not in the know, the BBC had to store all it’s programmes on film. To save space, and I mean real space, not virtual space, they threw a load of stuff out including a fair chunk of early Doctor Who (almost all the third series is gone!).

10 The Sensorites: The Doctor and his friends meet some creepy aliens who turn out to not be as creepy as they seem. The basic concept is something which Doctor Who has used numerous times over the years.

9 The Aztecs: A great historical story. Back in these days historical stories were purely historical, not an alien in sight. Except the Doctor. This sees the first mention of re-writing time and the Doctor accidentally gets engaged.

8 The Time Meddler: The first time another Time Lord appeared, although the name itself was never used. The Doctor meets another of his species who is disguised as a monk and is messing with time.

7 The Romans: A comedy story with Nero finding companion Barbara very attractive and the Doctor having a fantastic fight.

6 The Tenth Planet: The first appearance of the Cybermen and the Doctor’s first ever regeneration. Regenerating was a fantastic idea and is probably the reason the show is still going strong today.

5 The Edge of Destruction: A short story set entirely in the TARDIS, this sees the Doctor finally become friends with his unwilling companions Ian and Barbara.

4 The Dalek Invasion of Earth: It’s the year 2164 and the daleks have taken over Earth. It’s up to the Doctor and some humans to overthrow the deadliest race in the universe. Also the story where the Doctor’s hearts are broken when his grand-daughter Susan remains on Earth with her new lover.

3 The Chase: Daleks chase the TARDIS through time and space. Some good bits, some silly bits, all brilliant. Also Ian and Barbara finally make their way home and it’s still one of the best companion leaving scenes the show has ever had.

2 An Unearthly Child: The very first story. The main story is pretty rubbish but the first episode is brilliant. It’s where fifty brilliant years have spawned from and it still stands up as great TV.

1 The Daleks: The second story and the Doctor’s greatest foes are introduced. Their very first appearance still remains one of their scariest and it began years of Doctor/dalek battles.

I expect that there might be huge debate about this list among the Who community so if you have something to say about it, please leave a comment!

Review: A Big Hand for the Doctor by Eoin Colfer

The first of a series of short e-books to celebrate Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary, this sees the First Doctor rescue his grand-daughter Susan from the Soul Pirates, who steal children to sell their body parts. I liked the premise but over such a short space of time it felt too simple.

Colfer does a fairly decent job with the characterisation, with the First Doctor being fairly grumpy, but he is certainly more adventurous than in the TV show, although this is sort of explained by his desperation to save Susan. There were some very clever references- lots of mention of the Doctor being a Time Lord (something never mentioned during the First Doctor era), a reference to the Second Doctor and a mention of Hogwarts, proving even the First Doctor was a Harry Potter fan.

A good effort with some witty lines in it- it's just a shame the e-short format limits what the author can do.

Assimilation Squared

You may have heard about a series of comics called Assimilation² that combine the universes of Doctor Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation (another show I’m a huge fan of). The series has now finished and I’ve recently caught up- as with any comics, it’s virtually impossible to keep up with any series due the limited availability in the UK. Normally I would warn you of spoilers now but I’m not going to have a detailed look at the story because I suspect many people might still want to read this. Instead I’m going to pick some of my highlights from the series- there may be some minor spoilers but I shall try my best to avoid any major ones!

Before that though, a basic summary of the plot. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in the TARDIS on the holodeck of the USS Enterprise. Before they know it they need to help the crew take on an alliance between the Cybermen and the Borg. But can the Doctor get Captain Picard to trust him?

1: The TARDIS on the Enterprise

The TARDIS lands in the holodeck of the Enterprise. Except it looks like San Francisco. It’s only when the Doctor notices a certain android is present that all is not as it seems.

2: The Fourth Doctor and the Original Enterprise Crew

Data looks into the Enterprise’s records and discovers that the crew of the original Enterprise met the Fourth Doctor. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Bones join forces with the Fourth Doctor to fight off classic series style Cybermen. It’s a great link into the history of both shows- and there’s even some jelly babies!

3: The Doctor meets Guinan

The Doctor meets the oldest person on the Enterprise, bar tender Guinan. Being pretty much the eldest beings in their respective universes, they have a lot to talk about.

4: Doctor Who Continuity

There are plenty of references to past Doctor Who adventures and what the characters have been through. Amy and Rory mostly take a back seat in the story but every now and then they do something brilliant. (The panel above sees Amy explaining to Picard some of the events of The Eleventh Hour).

5: Picard in the TARDIS

The legendary Captain Picard enters the legendary TARDIS. He says the legendary line. The Doctor is very happy and so is everyone reading.

6: A universe ruled by Cybermen

The Doctor shows Picard a possible future, where both the Doctor Who and Star Trek universes are taken over by the Cybermen. We see them take over Raxacoricofallapatorius (home of the Slitheen), the Judoon (as seen above), the Klingons, Vulcan (home of Spock) and the Star Fleet academy.

7: The Next Generation Continuity

There’s not as much continuity from Star Trek as the episodes tend to be more standalone, but there’s lots of talk about the history of the Borg and when Picard became on of them. The Doctor, Amy and Rory even ending up meeting Locotus, the Borg version of Picard!

8: The Cybermen/Borg Alliance

The idea of some of the most feared beings from both universes working together is brilliant. This makes the whole idea of the squared bit of the title make sense- it’s both an alliance between the Doctor and the Enterprise crew AND an alliance between Cybermen and Borg. But will either alliance last?

9: Data looks into the heart of the TARDIS

Data does a Rose Tyler and looks into the heart of the TARDIS. It would destroy any human and forces Time Lords to regenerate. But can an android contain it?

To avoid being obvious, I am stopping at nine. Didn’t expect that did you? I was very excited when this series was announced and then quickly began to worry that it would be too hard to do. Well it turns out the writers created something fantastic. It combines Doctor Who and Star Trek: The Next Generation brilliantly in my opinion, making this a great read for fans of both shows. It also has fantastic artwork that captures the likeness of all the actors brilliantly. All in all, a truly wonderful thing.

The series was released over 8 issues but you can buy it as a graphic novel in two volumes. The first volume is on sale on Amazon in the UK right now, link here. If you live elsewhere, Google is your friend! Thank you for reading and there’ll be more from the Time Vortex very soon!