Doctor Who - The Woman Who Fell to Earth Review

Doctor Who is back. Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor.

This review will contain some spoilers so be warned…

First off, Jodie Whittaker. She hit the ground running (literally as well as metaphorically!). From the moment we first encountered her, I felt like Jodie Whittaker was the Doctor. Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor was smart, funny, and utterly likeable. This is the newest incarnation of my hero growing up. There were elements of her performance that reminded me a little of Matt Smith and David Tennant but at the same time she utterly made the role her own.

One of the things that makes or breaks any era of Doctor Who is the companions. I think the 13th Doctor is going to have a good team of friends to play off and I think watching the dynamic unfold between them will be really interesting. Each of them is going to bring something different to their adventures with the Doctor. You can already see the traces of what’s going to make them fantastic companions as the series progresses in much the same way that Rose Tyler was showing what she was made of right from the beginning.

Ryan seems to be the smart one but not in a traditional book smart way. It also seems like he has some self-confidence issues which I think the Doctor will help him work through. He was a likeable and relatable character which is what I want to be seeing from any new companion.

Yas seems to have an investigative nose which reminded me somewhat of Sarah Jane, any companion that reminds of Sarah Jane must be doing something right! Also having a companion be a Police Officer is a pretty original idea but one that I think will work well.

I thought Graham was going to be the weakest of the new TARDIS team but I was wrong, I don’t think there is a weak member of the team. It’s interesting to see a companion who’s more cautious, I don’t think that’s really happened before.

I had a feeling that Grace was going to die, but that didn’t undermine the poignancy of her death. I think that her death is going to be something that has an important and powerful lasting impact throughout the series.

Monsters, this episode had a proper monster! If you read my Doctor Who Series 10 reviews you might recall I complained frequently about a lack of proper monsters. Well The Woman Who Fell to Earth gave us a proper monster. I don’t think Tim Shaw will come to be regarded as one of the all-time classic Doctor Who monsters but he was a good adversary for the new Doctor to face.

Even the setting was new, instead of London we’re now in Sheffield. After Clara Oswald and Amy Pond both having fairly vaguely defined backstories it was nice to see the new team having a life in a city before they met the Doctor. I think moving away from London is a smart idea, since 2005 pretty much every series of Doctor Who has been very London heavy so leaving the capital really makes this feel like a fresh start. It was definitely Sheffield, I’m from Yorkshire and it felt like an authentic representation of my county.

Fundamentally this is a ‘new Doctor’ episode. To a certain extent it followed the mould that has been set by The Christmas Invasion and The Eleventh Hour for what a new Doctor episode is. The Doctor has to figure out who they are in their newest incarnation and save the world. That is the type of episode that The Woman Who Fell to Earth is. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. This is a new era of Doctor Who, with a brand new Doctor, I think it was right to start the series like this. It was a great episode to whet our appetite for more Who and I definitely want to see more of what this era has in store.

Also I loved that tease we got of the new theme tune over the credits. It gave me a Classic Who vibe in all the best ways.

2017 on my Blog

Well right back at the start of 2017 it was one of my New Year Resolutions to try and blog more. I think I managed that pretty well this year. As we say goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018 I thought it would be interesting to look back at this year on my blog.

I have chosen my favourite post from each month of the year to look back on. These might not have been the most popular post for that month, they might not be relating to the most significant thing that happened to me in that month, but they are what I consider the best of the month.

January

Wait, that actually happens in real life?

The post written the day after I bumped into a couple of friends in a coffee shop has some interesting musings on friendship as a student in the 21th Century.

February

Doll Collecting, I know it’s a bit weird.

I like collecting dolls. One year after I bought my first doll I wrote this post that is honest, geeky, personal and about collecting. I think this post just about sums up everything that I try to make my blog about.

March

Disney Live-Action Remakes – My Thoughts

An interesting post were I consider what I think of the Disney Live-Action Remakes so far and then suggest what I’d like to see. It’s also interesting as I wrote this post before Beauty and the Beast came out.

April

Doctor Who – Thin Ice Review

If you were following my blog between April and July you probably saw my Doctor Who reviews so I thought I should include one on this list. I think this review of Thin Ice was one of the best ones I wrote.

May

Lois Lane YA Novels – Review

The only book review I have written on this blog! I started reading the YA series of Lois Lane novels and very quickly got hooked on them, in this review I think I did a good job at writing about the trilogy.

June

Back from Uni

After finishing second year I wrote a brief post about being back from uni for summer break. In this post I was looking forward to what was going to happen so it’s interesting to read now that has happened.

July

Bargirl’s Batcave – A Doll Room Craft

Another doll post but a crafty one this time. In this post I shared how I made a Batcave for my Batgirl DC Superhero Girls doll. This project was more labour intensive than I’d anticipated but I was really pleased with the end result.

August

The Sarah Jane Adventures Appreciation

This post is a thoughtful and insightful review of a series that I sort of grew up with. The Sarah Jane Adventures meant a lot to me when I was younger and I would like to think that this post gave it the respect it deserves.

September

The Pep Rally and Other New Experiences in Canada

After my first full week in Canada I wrote a post summarising what I had been doing, including the Pep Rally. This post perfectly sums up that feeling of absolutely everything being new and exciting as I started my study abroad adventure.

October

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year I had my first ever Thanksgiving and I had a great time with my friends. I really enjoyed it and I shared that experience on my blog.

November

Image © BBC

New Doctor New Look

A very balanced and fair consideration of Jodie Whitaker as the first female Doctor and what that could mean for the future of the show.

December

Toronto in the run up to Christmas

I have really enjoyed going into Toronto whilst I have been living and studying in Canada. The trip at the start of December was another good one and I think the blog post about it was the best.

So that was my favourite blog post of the month for each month in 2017. I am really proud of what I have done with the blog this year and I hope that I can continue to update it as regularly as I have done with similarly interesting content in the New Year.

2017 has been a pretty great year, I have done lots of really interesting and fun stuff. I’m looking forward to discovering what fresh new adventures 2018 has in store for me.

Thank you for reading my blog and Happy New Year!

The Sarah Jane Adventures Appreciation

Recently I have been watching all of The Sarah Jane Adventures and I thought I’d write a blog post sharing some appreciation for this wonderful series.

If you didn’t already know The Sarah Jane Adventures is a Doctor Who spin off series that follows the adventures on Earth of former companion Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen). In the first episode – Invasion of the Bane - Sarah Jane adopts Luke. Sarah Jane, her son and their friends Maria, Clyde and Rani then save the world from various alien threats on a weekly basis. The series ran for 5 seasons from 2007 to 2011, it came to an end in 2011 because of Elisabeth Sladen’s death.

It was definitely a part of the wider Doctor Who universe. There are monsters that are familiar from Doctor Who – like the Slitheen, the Sontarans and the Judoon – who appear. There’s also appearances from former Doctor Who companions K9, Jo Grant and the Brigadier. The Doctor himself even appears in two different stories. There’s no doubt that The Sarah Jane Adventures is connected to Doctor Who. And yet The Sarah Jane Adventures also managed to be its own unique thing. The stories are usually self-contained and whatever the situation is it never really feels like the Doctor’s presence is missed.

Undoubtedly at the heart of the series was Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. Her warmth, humour and friendship shone throughout. She was more than capable of carrying the series and was a very likeable protagonist. When I first watched The Sarah Jane Adventures I didn’t really appreciate just how good (and rare) it was to see an older woman being presented as a capable and competent hero. Capable and competent is definitely a good phrase to describe Sarah Jane, she knows what’s up and she knows how to handle the situation.

Throughout its run The Sarah Jane Adventures was regularly willing to tackle themes of tolerance, prejudice and acceptance. These were some of the key themes and something which played into multiple stories. In terms of tolerance the show also practised what it preached with an ethnically diverse cast of characters and a good mix of male and female characters. They were even going to have Luke come out as gay had the series continued!

The storylines within The Sarah Jane Adventures worked well for the series. Unlike Doctor Who it never got bogged down with big, dramatic, overblown arcs. Most of the stories are just standalone adventures with some connections from week to week. The stories mainly follow a villain-of-the-week format but the talent of the writers meant that it doesn’t feel repetitive. The tone varies throughout the stories, some of them - usually anything involving the Slitheen – are silly and lighter hearted and there’s nothing wrong with having a bit of fun sometimes. Then there’s the more serious stories.

The Sarah Jane Adventures was a very emotionally intelligent series. The characters are allowed to be emotionally complex. Everyone in the main team ends up growing a lot throughout the series as they either deal with situations that have a significant personal resonance or we learn more about who they are. The series doesn’t speak down for its younger target demographic. Indeed there are several episodes – such as The Mark of the Berserker, The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith and The Curse of Clyde Langer – which are incredibly moving and poignant drama.

Everything about The Sarah Jane Adventures just worked well. It had likeable characters, interesting storylines and it’s very entertaining. So if you’re a Doctor Who fan who has never seen The Sarah Jane Adventures then I would firmly recommend it. If (like me) you grew up with the series and haven’t watched it since then I would definitely say that it’s one worth revisiting.

Doctor Who – The Doctor Falls Review

This episode simultaneously had the best and the worst of Moffat Doctor Who in it.

I am going to be starting this review by discussing Bill. This was ultimately Bill’s episode and watching it I cared far more about what was going to happen to Bill than anything else in this episode. I believe I have typed this more or less every week but Pearl Mackie delivered a faultless performance. The scenes where Bill struggles with being turned into a Cyberman were really well acted and gave more emotional depth to what could so easily have just been a swept aside shock twist. The final ending for her felt very satisfying. Heather appearing and returning Bill to human form didn’t cheapen Bill’s exit but instead gave her a happily ever after. I liked how it also linked back to her debut in The Pilot. Whilst I am sad that it has turned out that Bill Potts is only a one series companion I feel like that exit was a good one that left the door open for a potential future return. I think Bill Potts should be thought of as one of the all-time best Doctor Who companions, right up there with Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith.

I think John Simm is undoubtedly the worst Master. In my opinion there’s just nothing redeemable about him. I have disliked Missy a lot since her debut in 2014 but I think Michelle Gomez actually gave a decent performance in this episode and made her more likeable. I think it would have been a lot better to have seen Missy sacrificing herself to stop the Cybermen and show just how much she has changed. But ultimately I don’t think either Missy or the Master were actually needed in this episode.

This episode wasn’t just the end for Bill and Missy and the Master, it was also the end for Nardole. I know reaction to Nardole has been mixed but I thought he was a good character. I always enjoy when there’s a team in the TARDIS and Nardole played off Bill and the Doctor well. The addition of Matt Lucas to the craft also brought some more humour to the show which I feel has been much needed since prior to this series. I think Nardole’s exit was a little rushed but it was a good way to send him off.

The Doctor in this episode was simultaneously great and irritating. Capaldi has rarely been able to be the Doctor that he could be but this episode gave us some moments of greatness. I know most people are probably talking about the speech and whilst it was a good moment I think some of the smaller moments in this episode were actually much stronger. Of course the Doctor would make it one of his priorities to ensure that the children were all safe. However I really don’t understand were all this angst and dread about regeneration has come from. Moffat constantly teasing that the Doctor is about to regenerate was just irritating. In my opinion regenerations should be handled like it was in 2005’s The Parting of the Ways. It should be just a regular adventure that when things go too far the Doctor has to regenerate at the end of it.

Another thing that frustrated me was why did we need English countryside on a spaceship? Moffat should have just picked either countryside or spaceship and stuck with it which would have made the story more compact. I’ve found with both parts of this story that the spaceship was not particularly well executed or explained. It was just a plot device which was not needed in a story that did better on its emotional moments.

Why did we need to see the other versions of the Cybermen? They felt like they were there for little more than fan service – or possibly to bulk out the ranks of the Cyberman army by just reusing existing costumes! I think there might have been some explanation as to why there were different generations of Cybermen but if the episode had just focused on the Mondasian Cybermen it probably would have been stronger. I think bring back to the Mondasian Cybermen was a good choice - they look more chilling which was used for eerie dramatic effect. And this story used the way the Cybermen were created as a means of survival to good effect with the Mondsian versions.

The final moment with the sudden appearance of the 1^st Doctor was a good moment to end the episode on. This felt like the type of lead into the Christmas special that I remember from growing up with Doctor Who – like when the Titanic crashed into the TARDIS or when the mysterious bride played by Catherine Tate appeared. It was especially pleasing for big Doctor Who geeks like me that the 1^st Doctor should appear in The Doctor Falls because the 1^st Doctor’s regeneration story was The Tenth Planet which was the previous appearance of the Mondasian Cybermen. I think we should be in for an interesting Christmas special with the 1^st Doctor meeting the 12^th Doctor.

In conclusion, the good parts were really good but The Doctor Falls also had a lot of elements that were just irritating and frustrating. However it was a solid conclusion to what has been a good series of Doctor Who.

I know this review is going up later than usual but I wanted to give myself more time to write a review that did justice to the episode. Obviously that’s it for this series so there won’t be a review next week. However I am planning a piece giving an overall opinion on Series 10 as well as a few more Doctor Who posts.

Doctor Who – The Lie of The Land Review

The Doctor and Bill take on fake news in this week’s episode (sort of).

This week’s episode concluded the recent run of stories regarding the mysterious Monks that were first introduced back in Extremis. The Monks have managed to take over everything after the conclusion of The Pyramid at the End of the World. In The Lie of the Land the Monks haven’t just taken over the world, they’ve always been there.

The Doctor and Bill were obviously going to be fighting back, but I was confused why the episode said that the monks had been there for six months before they fought back. Was there meant to be some significance to that which I missed? I find it a little hard to believe that it would have taken the Doctor so long to finally put his plan of resistance into action without there being some big secret reason. Previously when an enemy has actually succeeded in taking over the world there’s usually been some reason as to why it takes time to fight back, such as when Martha Jones had to inspire a belief in the Doctor in 2007’s The Last of The Timelords.

Aside from my issue with the timing of this story I think this was a solid conclusion to the Monks trilogy. I will be glad to see the return of stand-alone stories next week but this episode felt like a good way to round out this mini-arc. We saw the full realisation of the Monks plan before the Doctor, Bill and Nardole defeated them. There was clearly a bit of sub-text regarding the real world trend of fake news in the way that the Monks had controlled everyone to see the Monks as having always been there. I like Doctor Who stories that echo contemporary issues, it’s something that Doctor Who has a long tradition of doing such as in 1973’s The Green Death. (Side note, if you’ve not seen The Green Death you really should it is one of the very best classic Doctor Who stories).

The Monks have been an interesting opponent. It’s been quite interesting to see what is ultimately just another ‘take over the world’ monster having such an usual strategy which we’ve seen misdirecting us and unfolding over several weeks. I can’t help feeling like there’s still quite a few unanswered questions about them so I wonder if possibly they’re not quite finished and the TARDIS team might have a rematch with them in a future episode.

Once more Bill Potts steals the show. I think I’ve said this every single week but honestly I just can’t praise Pearl Mackie’s performance enough. Bill really is becoming one of the all-time greatest companions, right up there with Rose Tyler and Sarah Jane Smith. I liked the narration from Bill throughout the episode when she was speaking to her mother and it made the final resolution feel very satisfying. The ending with Bill’s mother actually reminded me of when Clara Oswald defeated an evil alien sun 2013’s The Rings of Akhaten, which in my opinion was one of Clara’s finest moments. One thing that is starting to worry me with Bill is that this is two weeks running where she’s been willing to sacrifice herself to save the world, I really hope this is not foreshadowing for the season finale because I don’t want her to just be a one series companion. On a separate but related note, please can they hurry up and release Bill’s action figure already!

In conclusion, The Lie of the Land was a satisfying conclusion to the Monks trilogy and Bill Potts was once again the star of the episode. And next week isss the return of the Ice Warriorssss which I have been eagerly awaiting!

Doctor Who – Knock Knock Review

I don’t think this week’s episode was the best, especially given how good the past few weeks have been, but it was good to see a story that gave us more of a glimpse into who Bill is. Also, warning you now but there’s some spoilers in this review.

From 1989’s Ghostlight, to 2007’s Blink, to 2013’s Hide, the haunted house that is actually being inhabited by aliens is a reoccurring story throughout Doctor Who. I think the choice to do this story trope with Bill’s search for student housing was an interesting one. I was expecting that to play out in a comedic way like 2010’s The Lodger but I think this episode actually had far more in common with Hide. The first part is a spooky story about a house where something weird is happening and then in the final part we find out that it’s actually not what we first thought and it is something more emotional.

Knock Knock had some very unnerving monsters. Not in the way that the Silence or the Weeping Angels are unnerving. Just it really made my skin crawl when we saw the space lice things swarming and crawling around. However, I’m still wanting a really big bad monster. But going by the next time trailer I might finally get the big bad monster as next week’s thing looks very similar to the Vashta Nerada.

Once again Bill was the star of the episode, Pearl Mackie once again delivered a great performance. I have a feeling that Bill Potts is going to end up right up there with Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler in the all-time best companion rankings. Bill keeps asking questions and seeing things in new and interesting ways. In this episode we also got to see how being with the Doctor has started to change her, much like when Rose Tyler returned home for the first time in Aliens of London. One of the problems with Amy Pond, Rory Williams and Clara Oswald was that we never really got too much of a glimpse into their lives away from the Tardis, and when we did it never felt that developed. Knock Knock gave Bill friends and showed her dealing with something instantly recognisable, student housing! And also it made me laugh when Black Magic by Little Mix was the song that came up on her phone, particularly as I’d been listening to it earlier!

I was wondering during the past week if Bill’s sexuality was going to ever be addressed again. So often in Sci-Fi/Fantasy when LGBT characters actually appear the writers will have a brief moment  then never mention their sexuality again – like Sulu in the most recent Star Trek film for example. However we had another reference to the fact that Bill is a lesbian in tonight’s episode.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I love that this series is partially set in and around a university. Having a companion who is a student is an obvious but great idea. Having the Doctor at a university is also an obvious but great idea. It’s just so entertaining to watch! Though maybe I’m biased as I am currently a student.

I was disappointed by the vault scene at the end of the episode. I was really hoping that the vault was going to be something that was only kept in the background but this week I felt it was a little too much. I think that it’s going to turn out that Missy is locked up in the vault and she’s going to break free from it soon.

Overall Doctor Who finally seems to be back to the standard it should be. Not every episode is an all-time great but this series is still proving to be definitely worth watching, long may it continue.