Review: Zygon Inversion – Maybe We Do Need a Doctor

You know they are coming…

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Ok, so now let’s talk about Bonnie & Clara.

Jenny Coleman was having way too much fun being evil this week.

Peter Capaldi was magnificent. A bravura performance. Worthy of any great stage performance.

Ingrid Oliver is amazing.

Best Line: Kate Stewart- “Five rounds rapid” reference after gunning down a Zygon, of course. 🙂

But my initial reaction to the episode, was being let down by a talk fest at the end. But it was magnificently written though.

But by the end of this blog, you’ll see a change… Not into a Zygon though. I want to let Zygons be Zygons (gotta ghet that in there just one more time!).

And the ties back to The Day of The Doctor are smack you in the face there for all to see.

But I’m just not convinced that Zygons that committed to being Zygons would give up that easily.

Or become an Osgood.

I just a cynical old soul I’m afraid. But maybe there’s hope…

But I will say this two-parter is one of the best in a long time, even if I might disagree with some of it’s politics.

Bear with me.  This is going to get messy but it does go somewhere in the end. 🙂

Politics is not new to Who. The Green Death hits you with a two-by-four and my favorite, The Sun Makers is not all that subtle. Just to name two. I love both of them.

And, of course, the grand daddy of them all, Genesis of The Daleks and the moral and ethical dilemmas inherent in a war that has lasted for longer than  anyone could really remember. It’s a classic of Doctor Who for all the right reasons and I think it is a great episode.

So it can’t be that.

“The only way people can live in peace is if they are prepared to forgive”.

Maybe I can’t forgive. People being beheaded and burned alive, “Convert or Die” kind of sticks with me.

But let’s move on.

Or was I expecting something else and my expectations were violated so that’s what annoys me?

Possibly.

War is futile, messy and ugly. No argument there. But it’s also been how the human race has been shaped, like it or not.

“a Dangerously savage child race”– The Q.

But maybe we’ll redeem ourselves. I probably won’t be around for that bit, sadly.

“The Zygon Inversion” makes an asset of all this by arguing war really can be reduced to a scale model, to a choice of two buttons for each combatant, one promising total victory, the other utter destruction.

But you don’t know which is which, so are you willing to gamble?

We know from Destiny of The Daleks that Davros would most certainly do so.

Now that was fascinating. 2 Boxes, 2 Identical buttons. But can I say, since these boxes were created years ago why did the Zygons latch onto the exact phrase INSIDE the boxes? And did the Doctor know something was up when Truth or Consequences was mentioned because that’s what he had in the boxes??

Clara knew what was in the boxes. So Bonnie/Zygella (not sure where that name came from)/Evil Clara should have known.

And the Zygon uprising in the town of that name.

Too meta referential?

But here’s a point by AV Club that is worth mentioning:

The Doctor Who universe has long allowed for the fact that, as the 2nd Doctor once so eloquently put it, “There are some corners of the universe that have bred the most terrible things, things that act against everything we believe in—they must be fought.” There are enemies out there like the Daleks and the Cybermen that cannot be reasoned or negotiated there, and the only option then is to fight back. What “The Zygon Inversion” suggests, however, is that the vast majority of wars are fought not between good and evil but rather between opposing groups too overwhelmed by petty hatred and fear to recognize what the Doctor points out, that war only delays the inevitable moment in which the two sides sit down and actually talk through their differences. Of course, by then, that fundamentally unnecessary war has likely already created all the trauma and anguish necessary to breed the next generation of warmakers.

And I am a child of The Cold War, after all. Those are my roots.

Stripping war of the delusional glory and sense of self-righteousness imparted by actual combat and reducing it all to the mere push of a button—more than that, refusing to grant war unearned solemnity by treating it as anything other than a sick, destructive game—allows the Doctor to get through to two scared, angry people who sincerely believe they have no alternative.

Republicans and Democrats?

Conservatives and Liberals?

Pro-Life Vs Pro Choice?

Pro-Illegal Alien vs Not  (aka “racists”)

The “War on Women”?

Are we so divisive that we can’t compromise because compromise is weakness?

Maybe so.

And that in of itself is sad.

Maybe we do need a Doctor. 🙂

Again, the arguments put forth in “The Zygon Inversion” are nakedly idealistic, but if the Doctor isn’t going to take a stand for the value of naked idealism, then who the hell is?

And I’m a let-down-constantly-wanna-be idealist who is a pessimist instead by life experience.

Idealism and hope and wonder is what I love about this show. It saved my life 30 years ago. I can never repay that.

I can never forget it either.

I can always hope, like the Doctor.

Peter Capaldi is brilliant in this episode and the final war dialogue is brilliant. The Doctor has earned his war wounds. He knows of what he speaks. The War Doctor’s pain is written all over his face.

He committed genocide once. Then he undid it, but the pain is still there.

Never Cruel. Never Cowardly.

War requires making hard choices, but the hardest choice of all can be deciding to fight for peace. That choice is difficult not because it requires terrible sacrifice or grim resolve, but rather because it requires a person to look deep within themselves and to put aside their own pettiness, to find the capacity to forgive and to let go of their grievances.

So maybe there is no warrior like a cold warrior. 🙂

(sorry I keep references Star Trek…) 🙂

So it is a brilliant episode overall. Much to think about.

That is not a bad thing.

Truth or Consequences indeed.

Way to go, Basil! 🙂

Marketing Already…

• 

This title will be released on November 2, 2015 (UK)

This title will be released on November 3, 2015 (US)

A complete box set will be released in 2016.

The first six episodes from the ninth series of the relaunched sci-fi adventure drama, with Peter Capaldi reprising his role as the legendary Time Lord. This time around, the Doctor and his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna-Louise Coleman) travel through time taking on foes including Vikings, The Master (Michelle Gomez), Davros (Julian Bleach) and the Daleks. The episodes are: ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’, ‘The Witch’s Familiar’, ‘Under the Lake’, ‘Before the Flood’, ‘The Girl Who Died’ and ‘The Woman Who Lived’.

The Good News and The Bad News

This was heartbreaking when I read it.

Missing episode hunter Philip Morris, the man responsible for recovering nine missing episodes of Doctor Who, has told fans at a convention that he also located the missing Episode Three of The Web Of Fear, only for it to be stolen before it could be returned to the United Kingdom.

Greed and corruption hit Doctor Who fandom. Some private collector out there has one very important episode, and who knows how many more. They are more important than worldwide fandom.

Sad.

Previously missing episodes 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of Enemy of the World were recovered in 2013, alongside episodes 2, 4, 5, and 6 of Web of Fear, two stories from the fifth Season of Doctor Who, originally screened in 1967/8. The films had been found gathering dust in a store room at a television relay station in Nigeria.

These finds completed the two stories, with the exception of Episode Three of The Web of Fear, an important episode in the history of the series as it introduces the character of the Brigadier. At the time it was claimed that this episode was not located with the other finds. The third episode was reconstructed by the BBC Doctor Who Restoration Team, for the DVD release of the story.

However, speaking at the Pandorica 2015 convention, being held in Bristol this weekend, Philip Morris announced that when he initially located the episodes, episode 3 was indeed part of the collection.

The negotiations for the return of the episodes took over six months, and when the episodes were finally returned to the UK, episode three had vanished. Morris said he believed that after word of the find leaked out an offer was made to a member of staff at the Nigerian station, and that the episode had been sold to a private collector.

Currently 97 episodes of Doctor Who remain missing from the BBC archive.

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But some good news, for those that didn’t see it in the theatre or just wanted a copy of it.

BBC Worldwide America have released a Blu-ray + DVD Combo release of the 3D version of last year’s season finale of Doctor Who: Dark Water / Death in Heaven

The release comes hard the heels of the recent cinema event, Doctor Who: Dark Water/Death in Heaven 3D, which saw the two-part season eight climax shown in movie theaters across the United States.

Special features on the Blu-ray 3D + DVD combo pack include The Doctor’s Meditation – the special prequel scene to the first episode of season nine – and a 45-minute extended interview with Doctor Who stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, hosted by Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame.

I got mine at Target for $17.00

Review: Witch’s Familiar

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Well, what can I say, but that was not what I was expecting.

I guessed well enough that the Missy and Clara were teleported, rather than exterminated.

But the Evil Laurel & Hardy doubt act was fascinating.

Michelle Gomez is full on bonkers. She has no shame whatsoever. She plays it to the hilt and beyond.

They come to pit…

Clara: “throw a rock down there” to see how far it is.

Missy just pushes her off the edge and there’s an abort startle and a thump.

Missy: “20 feet”.

HILARIOUS!

And these are one set of Sewers the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles never want to visit. 🙂

‘Between us and him is everything the deadliest race in all of history can throw at us. We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick.’– Missy

Last week Clara was a “puppy”. This week “every miner needs a canary”.

Just in case in between the laughs you forgot Missy is beyond insane.

The conundrum at the cliffhanger: The resolution was predictable. But it was well played as the last scene in the episode (which I figured would be the case) after all that had gone on. It had to happen that way, for everything to work itself out in the end.

The Doctor did not create Davros. He merely influenced him. But he influenced him in a good way. It will never be enough to out way the sheer evil of the man, but it gives him some humanity/Skaro-manity. It’s an infinitesimally small bit of good in a universe of bad.

It also brings to mind the scene in which a Doctor begs River for mercy…

I wonder where they learned that from? 🙂

When Davros asked The Doctor, “Am I a Good Man?”  that was chilling. It brings to light that Davros may be an evil genius and a mass murderer like no other, but ultimately he thinks he’s a good man because he help protect his “children”.

But Davros, yet again, missed a critical part of his plan.

Where is the Doctor?

Right Behind you, and 1 Step ahead! 🙂

Julian Bleach is to be commended for a Bravuro performance the likes have not been seen in 40 years. Michael Wisher done proud today.

The Doctor And Davros, share a laugh together!

WOW!

Oh, and Clara Oswald, was a Dalek Again!

HILARIOUS!

But this one doesn’t dream of Souffle’s.

And the psychology of a Dalek, not that was truly enlightening.

“I love you” = “exterminate”. Most emotions end in “exterminate”.

“I am a Dalek!” (when she tries to have an individual identity).

And Missy, rather mischievously,  tried to get The Doctor to kill his own companion. When he figured that out all he said to Missy was “Run!”. Not to get away from the Daleks, but get away from him before he kills her. At least that’s how I saw it.

Missy though has no grand scheme in this two parter, it’s largely seat of the pantsuit. She proves why she is sooo dangerous.

Also The Sonic Screwdriver has bit the big one. Not at the hands of a Terileptil‘s weapon though.

Sun Glasses are cool!

And finally, they used a Classic Who solution to the TARDIS being “destroyed”. It gave my fan boy geeky heart a good turn.

The HADS makes it’s reappearance.

I Love a Classical solution. Take that NuWho’ers!!

Fascinating episode overall, and it did delve into may psychological aspects and was a cracker of a story.

Well, played Moff. Well Played.

But I have a question for Maisie Williams– The Master’s Daughter?? 🙂

Time will tell, it always does.

The Menace of Davros

‘If someone who knew the future, pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?’–Genesis of The Daleks

That’s what we’ll find out in a few days when the 2nd episode airs. I still don’t get the title “The Witch’s Familiar” but I suppose all shall be revealed in time.

““The bleak devastation he wreaks by the end of the episode is more powerful than any madcap plot to enslave the universe that has come before. And Julian Bleach, returning to the role, wrings every drop of menace.”.–UK Guardian

I agree that Julian Bleach is fantastic as Davros. He brings back the madness and menace of Davros that hasn’t been seen since Michael Wisher created the role in “Genesis of the Daleks”.

And remember, “Genesis” has been voted into the top 5 of just about any poll ever taken in the last 40 years, usually #1 or 2 or 3. So messing with a Classic is risky business.

So, nothing against Terry Molloy who has played Davros more than any other actor. He’s quite good at it. But both Bleach and Wisher brought so much more gravitas to the part. And unpredictability. You never quite knew when the bubbling menace might explode and madness pours forth like an erupting volcano. They just add that extra layer than wasn’t present in Molloy’s Davros.

“Compassion is wrong” Davros wants the Doctor to say. Which is fascinating, since compassion (at least originally) seems to have been the driving force behind the Doctor tossing the young Davros the sonic screwdriver.

I don’t want to get into the timey- wimey bit where the Davros that meets the 4th Doctor should have known about the Sonic Screwdriver.

But it’s also the driving force behind his hatred possibly. We haven’t seen how that scene in the hand minefield has played out yet but one assume originally Davros worked out how to get out of it.

Davros has become a much better character.

Now, episode 2 could change that for better or worse. We’ll find out soon enough.

The Daleks have always been The Nazis and thus, Davros is Hitler.

But I do wonder if the younger generations really understand that analogy. I really do.

And if you don’t fully understand it, is then a cartoon?

I would hope not.

This menace and evil personified.

 “Hunter and prey held in the ecstasy of crisis, is this not life at its purest?”

And could this not be said of The Doctor & Missy?

Much more of that in a few days.

Dude! 🙂

The Worries of Davros

Forty years ago — or maybe a millennium ago, for the Doctor, or maybe, for Davros, somewhere down the line — a Time Lord in a long scarf held up the ends of two wires and questioned whether he had the right to let them touch. “If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil — to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives — could you then kill that child?” he asked. That question just became literal. It’s foreshadowing four decades in the making. It’s Doctor Who. (EW)

And that scene in “Genesis of The Daleks” is being revisited in a big way.

Genesis was just on BBC America last Sunday and I watch the last 2 episodes (It was Sunday I got up late, ok!) which are the most crucial ones.

There is an added poignancy to the Doctor dilemma 40 years on when you get to that moment last weekend when the child said his name was “Davros”.

Not that I didn’t see it coming though. Especially when you have a war of apparition going on at the beginning with high tech and low tech at the same time. In Who, that only means one thing – The Kaleds and The Thals.

So the boy had to be Davros. But there was still the WTF moment when the kid said it.

But watching “Genesis” again I noticed (probably not for the first time but I haven’t watched it in many years) that they changed the ramifications of blowing up the Daleks nursery of genetic mutants from destroying them completely to “delayed them for a 1000 years or so”.

So even then their “ultimate solution” was backpeddled.

But if the Daleks are buried for 1000 years, they might just be even more xenophobic and crazed than they would have been. So did the Doctor and The Time Lords do themselves any favors in firing the first shot in The Time War trying to pre-empt it?

Doesn’t look like it.

I won’t even speculate as to how The Moff is going to Timey Wimey his way out of this one. I just hope it’s a decent solution.

I forgave him for The War Doctor.

But if The Doctor kills Davros, it will alter the entire structure of Who history and fundamentally change everything and I’m not sure that the pay off will be that great.

I know its the whole “kill Hitler” time travel conundrum and it explores The Doctor’s temptation. But is the pay off going to be worth it?

Genesis of The Daleks is a classic for a reason. It’s fantastically well written. This started out very, very good, but the best parts of Genesis are at the end, will “The Witch’s Familiar” do justice to the first part?

This is grave stuff. It’s good stuff. If handled with the care it requires. You’re messing with a Classic.

I worry more about that, than the resolution of the 2 Parter.

I also worry that maybe Missy and Clara ARE dead and the rest of the season someone is going to be like “Sledge Hammer! The Early Years” (look it up)  where everything takes place BEFORE the act that killed them.

“The Girl Who Died” (Episode 5)

“Sleep No More” (Episode 9)

“Face The Raven” (Episode 10)

Heaven/Hell Bent — The two part finale.

All very “death” related.

And we know Jenna Coleman is not coming back for Series 10.

So? Where does that leave us?

Hanging, of course. Just where the Moff wants you be.

3 Days to go. Hang off that cliff for 3 days more. 🙂

I don’t have any answers, just lots of questions and a whole TARDIS full of worries.

Timey Wimey Ratings

News of my death (Doctor Who) have been greatly exaggerated. But that doesn’t stop the media naysayers from jumping on their own bandwagon and trumpeting loudly.

Den of Geek: Inevitably, the naysayers have been out in force given the early figures for Doctor Who series 9’s debut episode, “The Magician’s Apprentice,” over the weekend. The first ratings for the show suggested that 4.58 million people had tuned in to watch the program as it broadcast on BBC One. That’s lower than the figure for any episode in series 8, and a good way down from Peter Capaldi’s debut, “Deep Breath” (which started with an overnight figure of 6.8m).

Now: 4.58 million is a long, long way from the final number. By the time iPlayer requests are factored in, along with those who “taped” it using services such as Sky+, it’s likely that the final number will be at least 3 million viewers higher, at the very least. There’s a BBC Three repeat to add, too. Then there’s the small matter of the sizeable international audience for Doctor Who, which will ensure that tens of millions of people at least will have watched “The Magician’s Apprentice” by this time next week.

ZAP2It:

SEASON DEBUT IS SERIES’ BIGGEST EVER AMONG ADULTS 18-49

“DOCTOR WHO” RANKS AMONG TOP 10 RETURNING CABLE DRAMA PREMIERES THIS SEASON AMONG ADULTS 18-49

“DOCTOR WHO” IS THE #1 SOCIAL DRAMA OF THE WEEK

New York – September 21, 2015 – BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who rang in season 9 with a bang, delivering double digit growth from season 8 across all key demos in live plus same day ratings. The premiere episode ranks as Doctor Who’s biggest season premiere ever in the Adult 18-49 demo, which nearly doubled the season 8 average. The season debut also saw increased social engagement versus last season’s premiere, and reigned as the most social drama of the night and week leading into the premiere.

“Doctor Who is unlike anything else on television, a storied franchise that is as fresh and contemporary as ever, with brilliant writing and superb performances,” said Sarah Barnett, President of BBC AMERICA. “We couldn’t be more thrilled that new and returning Doctor Who fans tuned into the live premiere in record numbers and we look forward to bringing more of the Doctor to this passionate audience.”

The premiere telecast delivered 2 million total viewers and 1.1 million Adults 18-49.  Among A18-49, Doctor Who propelled BBC AMERICA to #3 in its timeslot, out-delivering the big 4 broadcast networks and ranking only behind college football on ESPN and the finale of Sábado Gigante on Univision.

In the A18-49 demo, Doctor Who is now one of just 14 dramas on TV this season to show any growth from its prior season premiere (out of 100+ returning dramas).

The A18-49 audience ranks as Doctor Who’s biggest season premiere ever on BBC AMERICA, nearly doubling the S8 average (+95%). In the demo, episode 901 ranks among the top 10 returning cable drama premieres this season, beating Homeland, Suits and The Strain, among others.

DofG: So this isn’t an article suggesting that Doctor Who‘s ratings are in decline. They’re shifting, certainly, and I doubt too many people were chuffed with the comparably low number who tuned in on Saturday. Yet reports of Doctor Who‘s demise tend to be exaggerated, and this is no exception.

But something clearly has changed: and that’s that Doctor Who is arguably no longer what could be described as ‘event’ television. Over the course of the series, with two-parters and cliffhangers to come, that may change. Yet right now, even with spoilers spilling onto social networking services, the compulsion to sit and watch the show the minute it’s transmitted is clearly in decline.

I don’t think the BBC has done Doctor Who too many favors in that regard. Over the past few years, the show has been something of a scheduling football, rarely in a consistent time slot on a Saturday. There’s no sense that at 7pm on a Saturday night, for instance, that Doctor Who will be on. Saturday’s episode, for instance, screened at 7:40pm. I’d put hard cash down now that it won’t stay in that slot for the next 11 weeks.

But it will be up against very stiff competition. That network trick is older than I am.

That’s in large part down to servicing the needs of Strictly Come Dancing, which – since Doctor Who returned in 2005 – has become BBC One’s big Saturday night ratings winner. When Strictly needs to be longer, everything else – pardon the pun – has to dance around it. Doctor Who included. I’d argue that if Doctor Who had the same time slot every week, it’d at least have a sporting chance of increasing its “live” audience, if indeed the desire is to do that.

That said, the way television drama in particular is being devoured has changed sizeably over the past decade. While there are occasional exceptions – the simulcast of episodes of Game of Thrones or the Lost finale – the majority of TV drama is being lapped up in arrears. That is, a large part of the audience isn’t watching live. In some cases, people are awaiting the box set, so they can “binge watch” the whole lot. Again, Doctor Who included.

But still: I do think something’s being lost. There are many great things about Doctor Who, and one of them is that it’s one of the few programs that attracts a genuine family audience. That everyone can sit and watch it in one room. Technology has made this more challenging than ever – after all, there’s barely a room in any house that can’t be reached with a screen now – but occasionally, a show manages it.

I’d argue, though, that Doctor Who was the last show to make such an “event” drama. The episode in question? “The Day of the Doctor,” the 50th anniversary special that was lapped up on BBC One, across the world, and in cinemas. Not content with breaking into the top ten at the UK cinema box office, “The Day of the Doctor” garnered an even bigger audience than “The End of Time Part 2,: at 12.8m. It felt like a proper event, and that was only two years ago.

Even appreciating that a 50th birthday is a one-off occasion, it does mean that twice in the last six years, Doctor Who has proven its ability to be show that doesn’t just adapt to current viewing trends, but also has the power to resist them.

All of this doesn’t mean that a 4.58m rating leaves Doctor Who in trouble.

But I for one hope that, as storylines develop this series, there are those episodes that you simply have to watch there and then, and want to get to as quickly as possible.

In an era when Netflix will release an entire season of a show in one go, and when box sets – both real and Sky pretend ones – appear to be ruling the proverbial roost, I like that a show can break against that trend, leave a week between episodes, and have viewers looking forward to what’s coming next. There’s no British drama better placed than Doctor Who for that, and if it can continue to warrant its occasional “event viewing” tag, that’d be no small achievement.

That said, as long as it’s watched at some point, and as long as it keeps getting made, I’m not going to grumble…

Agreed. 🙂

Review: The Magician Apprentice

If you missed it or don’t get BBC America: http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/extras/season-9-premiere-full-episode-the-magicians-apprentice/

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Ok, you have been warned…

It’s “Genesis of Davros”!

The Doctor throws a big part in medieval England because for tomorrow he’s convinced he most surely will die.

Davros is dying and he remembers.

So my question is, if he remembers, did he not connect The Fourth Doctor with a Sonic Screwdriver with the Twelfth? or are we in for another Timey Wimey affair?

Of course we’re in for another Timey Wimey affair!! This is The Moff we’re talking about!

Clara is teaching away when all the planes on the planet stopped. She runs off like a Secret Agent to the Tower of London and immediately starts strategizing with Kate Stewart.

CLARA OSWALD, AGENT OF U.N.I.T.

They figure out it’s an “attention” getter by Missy. And yes, they much more overtly used the lyrics from “Mickey” by Toni Basil.

Missy is concerned for her old friend, who has sent her his Confession Disc to be opened by his closest friend upon the occassion of his death. Missy, being the recipient.

I guess since the Master never actually dies he does have one? Or is that he has nothing to Confess! 🙂

They track the Doctor to Medieval England, where he’s been throwing a very anachronistic party DUDES! 🙂

Peter Capaldi is hilarious in this scene. The fact that when he was in a Rock Band in his youth shows very nicely in this scene.

This gives a lot more context to the Prequels having to do with The Sisterhood of Karn and “The Doctor Meditation”.

They were like starting to read a novel on Page 102 so that’s why they seemed meaningless at the time because they were horribly out of context.

The Doctor agrees to meet Davros.

Clara inserts herself, and thus Missy, into the equation.

I wonder how very different the outcome would have been had they not. But then that wouldn’t be dramatic and explain more of the plot as Missy works out where they are.

Not to mention the best gag in the episode when The Doctor mentions Davros as his “arch nemesis” and Missy is comically offended by it.

Plus, there’d be no cliffhanger if they stayed behind.

SKARO.

1963

2015

The “greatest hits” of The Doctor and Davros play when they meet including the linchpin of the whole episode and the idea behind it.

“Compassion is your greatest weakness, Doctor.” — Davros

And given that the cliffhanger to this episode would seemingly set up one mother of paradox, it does seem so.

For how does the Doctor save Missy and Clara from being exterminated by exterminating Davros as a child?

That sets up the paradox.

If you kill the child before he grows up to create The Daleks, the Daleks cannot exterminate them.

The Timey Wimey Moffat Solution comes next week.

The power of Life and Death. Who Lives. Who Dies. WHO knows.

Tune in next week. Same Bat Time. Same Bat Blog…

Sixxy

As usual, the first trailer for Series 9 is meaningless marketing tease.

Some friends of mine were over last night and we watched “Revelation of The Daleks”.

I haven’t seen this one quite a few years.

My impression of it has not changed. It’s Script Editor/Writer Eric Saward’s attempt to mash together Stanley Kubrick and Robert Holmes.

Recap: The Doctor and Peri arrive on Necros to attend the funeral of an old friend of the Doctor who has recently died. However, Tranquil Repose is not all it seems and an attempt is made on the Doctor’s life. Soon the Doctor comes face to face with the Great Healer, only to discover it is none other than Davros, the creator of the Daleks, intent on rebuilding the Dalek race decimated by the Movellans.

And he’s not entirely successful. He has the Holmesian style characters but they still lack a spark. And Davros using people rejected for being Daleks as a protein source for the starving masses is very Soylent Green.

It’s not a bad episode (despite what one of my friends said), it’s just there yet. This was a problem with many of Colin’s scripts which is why if you want a real picture of “sixxy” as Colin calls him you need to go the Big Finish Audios where the Sixth Doctor has thrived under different management.

“The Unholy Terror” with The Sixth Doctor and Frobisher (shape changing penquin from Docgtor Who Magazine’s comic strip) is a beautiful thing.

Wanna see Sixxy and Holmes, watch “The Two Doctors” or “The Mysterious Planet” (Trial of a Time Lord 1-4).

I encourage people to revisit old episodes. They may or may not be the same as you remember it.

Doctor Evil

The new series of Doctor Who will kick off with one of the show’s darkest ever plots – as Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord ponders whether to murder a child.

The dramatic season nine opener is based on a line muttered 40 years ago by Tom Baker’s Doctor in 1975 episode Genesis of the Daleks.

He asked: “If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?”

Capaldi’s nightmare will unfold after the Tardis takes him to a battlefield where he finds a young boy stumbling through smoke.

He soon realises he is face to face with his arch-enemy Davros – the creator of the Daleks. As a grown-up, evil Davros – played by Julian Bleach – was last seen in 2009, when he locked horns with David Tennant’s Time Lord.

This time he returns to the Dalek planet of Skaro and captures the Doctor to steal his
regeneration energy.

But speaking about the next series, which started filming in January, show boss Steven Moffat insisted he has made the Doctor more light-hearted this time around. “Peter magnifies anything that is dark so I’m pushing him the other way,” he said.

“He’s also got a Scottish gloom about him. It was great fun to do for a year but that’s not how we’re going to play the rest of him.”

He added: “As ever, Doctor Who is a combination of complete daft silliness and loads of people getting slaughtered in the early evening. Peter is getting stronger and more confident in the role.” (Scottish Daily Record and The Miirror)

He also mentioned the comedy angle of the show: “I told the [show’s] writers, don’t just write him mean, write him funny – because he’ll make any joke fly.”

How does this jive with:

and Missy??

Maybe it doesn’t. It wouldn’t be the first falsehood sent out, after all, The Moff Lies.

Hmmm…