Review Deep Breath Doctor Who

So if you have never read my reviews before be warned, I don’t do a standard blow-by blow review.  I’m more about what does it all mean, Easter eggs and predictions.  And cursing *shakes fist* MOFFAT!

First things first. “Girl in the fireplace” didn’t impress me.  There I said it.  I liked Tennant.  I liked Rose.  It just didn’t overwhelm me. Was it Mickey?  In fact when everybody was gushing over it, I went back and gave it a second go round.  Still no.  For period pieces, give me Liz I (Tooth and Claw)(Torchwood!!) or Shakespeare(The Shakespeare Code)(57 academics just punched the air). Maybe it was the bummer ending.  Maybe it was because Tennant was supposed to be in love with Rose and it was against character, I don’t know.  I just never sat well with me.  But oh well, we have a new baddie and I will have to go back and watch it AGAIN. –SIGH-

Can I pause here to say, THREE CHEERS for the PaterNostor gang?  I love these guys! This is how to handle multi-companion storylines without over doing it.  (Ahem, Peter Davidson era I’m looking at you!) The TARDIS seemed crowded when they had all those companions and since the TARDIS is infinite that’s pretty hard.  And here is where we shake our fists at MOFFAT! We heard more of Strax and Vastra’s back stories today. But what do we know about Jenny’s back story?  And then it hit me.  Jenny.  JENNY! Moffat always said he was going to bring her back but he never said he was going to bring Georgia Moffat back!   She could have regenerated!  She might not want The Doctor to know who she is.  And working for the PaterNostor gang would seem to fit in perfectly with the budding personally that Jenny (the Doctor’s Daughter) had. MIND BLOWN!

So, back to the regeneration of The Doctor.  I see a lot of Colin Baker’s regeneration in this regeneration, at least for now.  When Peter Davidson changed into Colin Baker there was much chaos and confusion.  In fact, the Doctor tried to kill his companion.  All in all, Peter Capaldi’s Doctor has adjusted slightly better to being doctor, I think.  But he is darker.  I don’t remember another Doctor advocating genocide. In fact in Genesis of the Daleks, he argues strongly against it! This darkness calls to mind the Valeyard.  I think that The Doctor is now the Valeyard! This accounts for the Timelords interference at Trenzalore and maybe even that last scene.  I’m betting that that is the Matrix.  But if that is the Matrix is this all a dream?  How far back?  I know everyone hated the tacked on ending at the end of Trial of a TimeLord, but series do that all the time now.  It wouldn’t be farfetched for Moffat to pull from old episodes.  And who is the mysterious woman at the end of the episode?  I heard lot of theories from Mary Poppins to Madame de Pompadour.  My personal theory?  The Rani! If that truly is the Matrix than the Time Lords could have put her there for punishment or is she in the Doctor’s imagination for some reason.

So those are my thoughts, at least for now.  I’m sure we’ll have many more clips and spoilers before next week’s episode.  Knowing MOFFAT, purposely misleading! Allons-y

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Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12:Part 4- Strifes, Strikes and a Trial

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part 4- Strifes, Strikes and a Trial

Caves of Androzoni was not an overwhelming episode.  It played off the ideas of Phantom of the Opera with the ultimate goal of eternal life.  Why do evil masterminds never get creative?  They are always searching for ultimate power or eternal life.  For a regeneration story, this lacks pizzazz.  The Doctor sacrifices himself to save Tegan.  The budget restraints of the BBC again show their ugly head.  The regeneration sequences seem unfinished.  In later interviews the Director and producers et all, indicated that there HAD been more planned with the SFX and filming more dialogue to be shot.  There was a strike or two to work around.  Not a good beginning for Colin Baker’s Doctor.  His first story was Twin Dilemma.  A sub par plot of a would be tyrant trying to take over the universe.  This Who episode has some of the worst Doctor Who cliches, including rubber masks, running down endless corridors over and over again, and 1980’s SFX.  There is a second Time Lord present and we don’t get much information about him of the Time Lords.  Also he dies without regenerating!  Colin Baker went on to have the worst time in the TARDIS.  The threat of cancellation was constantly over head, and several strikes ending up closing down BBC for significant periods of time.  This causes The Doctor to be put on Trial.  In the show it was the Time Lord high counsel but in reality it was BBC.

Coming Next Part 5

Regenerations #1-11 Part Two Leftbridge-Stewart and More

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part Two- UNIT, Leftbridge-Stewart and More

So now we know the Doctor can regenerate, although it was not called that yet.  The term renewal is used.  The Doctor has resumed his traveling ways.  He has new companions and new adventures.  Most of these adventures are missing due to a cleaning at the BBC.  Those who were alive should count themselves lucky to have seen such Classic Doctor Who.  But all good things must end. (Where have I heard that before?)  For Pat Troughton’s last episode we find the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie literally in the middle of a war zone.  It turns out that the Time Lords are having war games with each other.  They are using humans from different historical periods to fight their battles for them. (Could this be a foreshadowing of the Time War to come perhaps?)  When The Doctor finally figures out what is going on he has no choice, he must contact the Time Lords.  The Doctor has been a fugitive from his own people and they intend to punish him for it.  They force him to regenerate.  This is the first time we are shown that Time Lords have powers other than just having the ability to travel through time.  It is also shown that Time Lords can control regeneration.  There is a glimpse of the mental powers that Time Lords have but it is never quiet fulfilled either to the audience’s satisfaction.  End scene, fade to black, Hello new doctor.  A rock fall from space and according to the Time Lords, an Angel has fallen from grace.  The Doctor is now to be confined to Earth under the sentence of the Time Lords.  The TARDIS is barely functional.  How will the new Doctor handle this?  With aplomb, wit, and cool rides apparently.  The Doctor is now an advisor to UNIT(which at this point stands for United Nations Task Force) He’s the superspy granddad kids wish they had.  He also has a new enemy, The Master, a ying to his yang.  He does rather rant occasionally about not be able to leave Earth.  He also spends much time trying to fix his TARDIS.  The third doctor’s first episode establishes this more proactive character, a more theatrical incarnation.  He is also very physical, due to the fact that Jon Pertwee had been in the Navy.  He was the only incarnation of The Doctor to have a tattoo.  It was never mentioned, mostly covered and occasionally seen.  The Doctor is paired up with his old Friend Leftbridge-Stewart.  He has the distinction of having met the most incarnations of the Doctor. The restriction of remaining on Earth was due to the BBC, not the Time Lords.  These budget cuts affected the show if you look, although the series did begin to shoot in color. 

Coming next-

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 Part 3-For whom the Bell Tolls