DOCTOR WHO Review : Heaven Sent

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 11 : Heaven Sent

Trapped in a world unlike any other he's ever seen before, the doctor faces his greatest challenge of his many lives. One final test, and one which he must face alone.

The Doctor has just lost Clara, he is alone and he is angry and it is time for him to face a great test. This is probably the first time where we as an audience have seen the doctor this venerable. It's what last week's cliffhanger was all about. The whole point is that you are left in the dark with the doctor so that when you come in to this episode having no idea what might happen or what is going to happen.

The script was extremely well written by Steven Moffat and shows a whole new side to Capaldi's doctor. However, given the storyline to this episode, this episode could really work for all the doctors, not just for Capaldi, it would be interesting to see an episode with just the first doctor or the fourth doctor or the seventh doctor for instance.

This episode for me is just a simple outline of just how magical and wonderful that this show can truly be, and how gifted an actor Peter Capaldi is. Unlike the other recent doctors who in my view seemed to be very hit and miss in terms of their performance, you can see that Capaldi is learning all the time, and his doctor's character is not just improving with every story, it's improving with every episode. 

Capaldi gives his most experimental performance as the doctor in this episode, and the plot of this seems to be very interlinked and everything starts off being disjointed so by the time you get to the end, it resolves itself into the cliffhanger. 

I liked the setting for this, it was all very mysterious, isolated, dark and cold all at the same time. There is this on going theme with castles that they have to have the correct lighting done to them to make the whole thing have the right shade and tone in light from dark and its no easy task to make it look captivating, I think in some areas the lighting pattern works in other places in tends to phase out and the lighting gets over crowded and the mood is established differently as a complete contrast to that. 

There wasn't much story in this episode, it did seem to me much like an audience with Peter Capaldi. Nothing about this really grabbed me, and I did loose interest in places very quickly. Overall there is not much I can say because there is not much to comment on other than Capaldi, the set and the story (which in this episode there was not much of) by the end it had become a live, sleep, die, repeat sort of thing and everything started to make sense a little by the end but I just didn't get this at all, in time maybe I will but for now it's a 2/5.

One thing I did really like, and probably what I liked most about it was that it had 80's soundtrack in it. The scene where the doctor is examining the painting of Clara, the soundtrack sounded a bit like 'Warrior's Gate' or an 80's soundtrack. So that was a touch I felt and gave everything a nice nod. But yeah 2/5 for now.

NEXT WEEK: The series finale! 

COMING UP on The Chase!

THE CHASE : Specials

• • Episode: 
    10 out of 10
  • Transmission: 
    5th of December 2015
  • Time: 
    Anytime after 4:45pm
    
  • Week 10 : 
    30th of November - 7th of December 2015
  • Channel: 
    DANBURY Productions
  • Published: 
    28th of November 2015

One chaser is what stands in the way of Tom Bradby, Jo Wheatley, Samantha Womack and Patrick Kielty from winning big money for charity. But who will they have to be beat to win big?

DOCTOR WHO REVIEW: Face the Raven

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 10: Face the Raven

The Doctor and Clara, with help from their friend Rigsy, find themselves in a magical alien world hidden on a street in the heart of London.

Before I begin this review, I should warn you it is one of the saddest, emotionally developed episodes that I've ever watched and I should caution you if you haven't yet seen it just how upsetting the ending is. 

So the episode begins with the doctor and clara being presented with a problem, their friend Rigsy calls them because Clara gave him the doctor's number for emergencies and he has this strange tattoo on the back of his neck which is counting down. Interested in the mystery behind this, the doctor and clara decide to investigate this matter further. The only problem is Rigsy can't remember much about what happened or how he got the tattoo. 

Using the TARDIS's navigation systems the Doctor manages to track it down to finding something called 'trap streets' which are streets that you never notice, something that escape the corner of your eye. once they find the mystery street is when the plot really gets in gear and things start to make much more sense, so if you're left in the dark and are totally lost at the beginning, in the middle of the story things are explained and make much more sense. 

The actual design of the street is wonderful, it reminded me a bit of diagon ally, there is something magical about the street in terms of the way the lighting was done that made it look a bit like Harry Potter. I don't know if it was the intention of the director to make it want to look like that. the problem with it really is whither this was intended or not is that the trap street is always going to be compared to diagon ally because that's what it looks like. This was a very bleak setting, not much colour in this episode at all, just very dim and bleak and quite plain which all helps to entice the mood better. 

Maisie Williams is back in this one. I feel that the more times we see her, the more we learn about how her character has developed and its like she has developed in certain stages over a long period of time. It relates back to my previous comment in my review of The Girl who Died, it is the result of a consequence of the doctor causing a problem by solving a problem. I think that her role in the story is to remind us of that, and that reflects in the doctor's character.

I felt the actual concept behind the raven and the raven's involvement in the story was really compelling and obviously key to the plot, with it being 'raven' was in the title. 

The whole point of this really was purely centred around just for Clara's departure. As brilliant of a departure as it was, and it was it did create a massive impact on the way I viewed the whole episode, it was sad. It was incredibly sad. Clara basically decided upon herself having learnt you can swap what Rigsy had onto her, that they'd be able to develop a strategy to buy them more time, actually blew up in her face and meant that she was the one who was going to die. She did what she felt the doctor would do. It's one of those things in which you just go 'ah oh!' alarm bells were ringing as something doesn't sit right here. It was just that moment where Clara got the realisation as to what she had done and was like 'ok, I got myself into this, I can't escape it so I'm just going to face this head on and be brave even though I'm terrified at the same time' Jenna's goodbye scene was very touching and brilliantly sentimentally pitched. I didn't want her to go. Jenna gave the best performance she's ever given as Clara in that final scene, and Capaldi supported her through that.

It is a bit of shame however, given the fantastic premise that the episode had and you really could have had another story within that to make good use of it, other than just for getting rid of Clara. Also, it was nice to see Rigsy again, but again I felt he only featured as someone to carry the departure forward and so he wasn't as strong here as we was in 'Flatline' last year. Basically, a good episode but it was severely lacking in plot.

I really liked this one, so I'm going to give this an 8/10!

NEXT WEEK's episode has only got The Doctor in it apparently, so we shall see how well that stands up. 

COMING UP on The Chase!

THE CHASE : Specials

• • Episode: 
    9 out of 10
  • Transmission: 
    27th of November 2015
  • Time: 
    Anytime after 11am
    
  • Week 9 : 
    23rd- 29th of November 2015
  • Channel: 
    DANBURY Productions
  • Published: 
    21st of November 2015

One is chaser is what stands in the way of presenter Sian Lloyd, comedian Romesh Ranganathan, Geordie Shore's Charlotte Crosby and olympic hero Mo Farah from winning big money for charity. But who will they have to be beat to win big?

DOCTOR WHO REVIEW: Sleep No More!

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 9 : Sleep No More

A chilling story, assembled from footage discovered in the wreckage of Le Verrier Space Station. 

[SPOILERS WILL BE REVEALED IN THIS REVIEW]

This is a Doctor Who story like no other we've seen this year. It's written by writer Mark Gatiss and is told through the character of Professor Rassmussen who is played by 'Reece Shearsmith' who is very good friends with Gatiss. 

This story isn't really about the Doctor and Clara going off on an adventure for a change, and this is what makes 'Sleep No More' a very different story compared to something like the zygon two parter for example. The story is set on a space station, the Le Verrier which is in orbit around Neptune around the time of the 38th century. In the introduction part the character of Gagan Rassmussen is introduced and Rassmussen is the lead researcher at the space station. He warns viewers basically ' do not watch this, its going to terrify you!' and thats what draws you in to the story in a way, we as the audience are compelled to watch because we want to know what's so terrifying about what's happening here on this space station that is not going to make us watch.

I think what this story does so well is it demonstrates to an audience how creepy space stations can be. The production design on this episode is brilliant, the colours and backgrounds are very atmospheric, not many bright colours its very doom and gloom which of course helps convince the audience that they are where they are. It reminded me a bit of 'The Ark in Space' which was nice.

In all honesty in terms of actually following this story, I personally thought it was a little hard to follow with everything that happening all at once, it was a bit slow at times and was also really boring in places. Maybe its just me an my attention span, I just don't see what people find compelling about this story as people have said "Oh it brilliant!" "So gripping" and all this and I'm just like "really?, not much happens in it" not really, apart from a lot or running around, opening and closing doors, being stuck in rooms, and taking absolutely ages to work out the problem which could have solved in 20 - 25 minutes. Its one of those starting and stopping stories like 'The Ambassadors of Death' the difference being I actually quite like 'The Ambassadors of Death'. 

There were some clever ideas in it though, like the concept of the sandmen, sleep or dust in your eye from sleeping. That's a great idea for a monster, and they were actually quite creepy and a great horrifying side effect to the Morpheus machine. 

I like the idea of the morpheus machine. five minutes in there is the equivalent to 3 months of sleep. It's great for work ethics and as Rassmussen says in the episode 'time is money' so I get why its useful on that respect. It some ways its very good, but due to the side effects of the sandmen I probably wouldn't use it. After a while the floating head intercom of the woman's head that became annoying. 

No opening title sequence which I felt was odd, I kept watching thinking 'when are we going to see the opening credits' and 20 minutes in I gave up and was like 'nah, we're not going to get it' which was disappointing seeing as there was a good point in the story which you could cut to have it in, they missed a trick there. I guess they just wanted to have the audience interested in the story from start to finish. But for me, who's watched this series week in week out, being so used to having it, to then not have it is quite strange.

I loved the twist at the end, when you find out that all this time Rassmussen is nothing but dust... really spooky stuff and I wasn't expecting to see that. Usually I'm quite good at predicting what's going to happen in Doctor Who but not on this occasion so well done to Mark Gatiss for surprising me. 

However to give this a mark now, it's just not my cup of tea really. I'll give it a 5/10.

NEXT WEEK: It's time to Face the Raven!

COMING UP on The Chase : Children in Need Special!

THE CHASE : Specials

• • Episode: 
    1 out of 2
  • Transmission: 
    13th of November 2015
  • Time: 
    Anytime after 3pm
    
  • Week 7 : 
    15th - 22nd of November 2015
  • Channel: 
    DANBURY Productions
  • Published: 
    9th of November 2015

Bradley Walsh hosts as four celebrities take on the challenge of The Children in Need Special of The Chase. Actor Matthew Kelly, Journalist Sophie Raworth, Model Abbey Clancy and Actor Mark Benton come together to work as a team in the hope of winning thousands of pounds for Children in Need 2015. But just who will they be up against?

DOCTOR WHO REVIEW: The Zygon Inversion

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 8 : The Zygon Inversion

Shapeshifting Zygons are everywhere, and there is no way of knowing who you can trust. With UNIT neutralised only The Doctor is what stands in the way from war breaking out.

SPOILER ALERT: This review is going to be contain spoilers.

After last week your lead into a chain of events from which anything can happen after the cliffhanger, which leaves a matter of uncertainty in the mind of the viewer watching, as a sense of security when watching Doctor Who, the viewer usually feels insured that they have a sense of what is going to happen or what might happen due to lead suggestion that is left off in the episode previous. In the case of this story, its one of those rare moments when you don't get that.

We get the recap from last week and then from here on in, the viewer is on their own. Going into a little detail about what happens it is vital for the success of the zygons to complete their mission to populate the earth and they've already started to do that by copying members of the population of earth, so no one really knows who's who. Even Clara is a zygon. The zygons want the Osgood box, so they can start the war and in the episode it all reverts back to the Osgood box, questions that keep the audience interested. What is the Osgood box? what does it do? why is it called an Osgood box? etc. 

The Doctor's role in the episode is to prevent war from happening and create a peace between the humans and the zygons. The trick here is you got a situation which categorically speaking can't be stopped, earth is on the brink of disaster and the question here is 'how can the doctor stop it?' 'how can he talk them out of it?' 

The episode as an episode was really good indeed. It was a lot better developed than last week. It does a consistent job at keeping the pace going, tension levels are quite high in terms of keeping things on edge I mean the scene with the Osgood boxes, that's a prime example of showing dramatic tension. Peter Capaldi's speech in that scene is just brilliant, its relevant to what the doctor himself had to do in 'The Day of the Doctor' you're faced with a big decision what should do? kind of thing. As it turns out war doesn't happen because there is nothing in either of the boxes. 

In the end, there is a peace. And shock horror... two Osgoods? about the whole Osgood theory. Who knows which is zygon and which is human? did the human Osgood die? or was it the zygon? or are they both zygon? its too confusing for my brain to comprehend or care about that much. The thing I do like about the zygons and indeed the whole Osgood thing is the play on identity and how you get a buzz of excitement of not knowing who's who and trying to depict one from the other. 

Peter Capaldi's performance for me, is inverted. He's sort of gone back to the jokey way he was in Series 8, a part of his Series 9 seriousness has gone away for a majority of this story. Not saying his performance was necessarily bad, just quite peculiar in how the doctor character is portrayed. He's at his strongest in this episode when he's giving the big speech about the consequence of living with a big decision. Apart from that, yeah... not his best performance this series for me.

Jenna Coleman excels in this, she's marvellous as both Zygon and Clara. Probably the best performance in this story for me. 

There are some noticeable reference to other stories such as 'The Day of the Doctor' and 'The Girl who Died' if you noticed it there is a Mire robot head in the black archive. We know of the black archive because it was first referenced in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' and its used again in 'Day of the Doctor' and in this story. 

The zygons themselves are really menacing and prove to be an effective threat. I liked how everything did revert back the zygon subplot in 'Day of the Doctor' because it makes that part of that story make more sense to me. I have been waiting for a proper zygon story for a very long time and I'm pleased to have got a fair decent, well executed story that is worth watching and really enjoyable. I can't really think of that much to say really. Other than just 'very good story' and well done Steven Moffat and Peter Harness for combining together to make the idea come about. 4/5 again. 

8/10 in total.

NEXT WEEK : Sleep No More. 

COMING UP on The Chase!

THE CHASE : Specials

• • Episode: 
    8 out of 10
  • Transmission: 
    20th of November 2015
  • Time: 
    Anytime after 11am
    
  • Week 8 : 
    16th - 22nd of November 2015
  • Channel: 
    DANBURY Productions
  • Published: 
    6th of November 2015

Bradley Walsh hosts as four celebrities take on the challenge of The Chase. Presenter Chris Evans, Footballer Jack Wilshere, Actress Niky Wardley and Comedian Paul Whitehouse come together to work as a team in the hope of winning thousands of pounds for their charities. But just who will they be up against?

DOCTOR WHO Review : The Zygon Invasion

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 7 - "The Zygon Invasion"

Osgood is kidnapped by a rogue gang of Zygons, the Doctor, Clara and UNIT must scatter across the world in a bid to set her free.

SPOILER ALERT: Major spoiler warning here! This is review is going to be filled with spoilers and this is an episode that shouldn't be spoiled. believe me!

So this is a story that executive producer Steven Moffat has had in mind of doing for quite a while. So much so, that we need to be reminded back to the Zygon sub plot in 'The Day of the Doctor'. The best way to sum this up is with a massive spider gram at the centre we have Osgood, two versions and they know who's a zygon and who is human. When one version was killed by Missy in 'Death in Heaven' the other version survived? but was it the real Osgood that died?

We come into the story, We meet the two Osgoods talking to a camera, and what I love about that scene is the way its shot first and foremost. It's a mirror shot to make it look like it's one room, and even the coffee mugs are looking the same. It's a very precise, clever shot and in terms of story its precise as well in setting up the backdrop to whats gone on. Twenty million shape changing Zygons are living amongst earth people and we're also left with a mystery as well, what is the Osgood box? 

Osgood is kidnapped by the zygons. the suspense is built up really well with assistance of the way it is filmed, the camera angles in this are brilliant it adds to the tension and makes a dramatic emphasis towards the proper peril of the story.

The Doctor comes into the story or should I say Doctor Disco comes into the story, he gets involved with UNIT again and its like its 1975 all over again. It's a great atmospherical, political, global thriller. 

It may interest you to know about the similar locations that were used in this story. The fictional country of Turmezistan where the Zygons take refuge was also the town of christmas in 'Time of the Doctor'. The park at the start of the episode was also the same park used in 'Army of Ghosts'.  Truth or Consequence is actually a pin point in New Mexico, its the name of a town on the map that was used after a game show.

However having said that, I'm struggling to actually describe what exactly happens in this episode because its very jumpy, very back and forth in terms of structure and that makes it all the more confusing to follow. So that's a major flash point to consider, nothing quite makes sense in this. There's a report of a missing boy, then they go to a school, then the Doctor goes to New Mexico, and you've also got to try and follow what Clara and UNIT are doing, what Kate Stewart is doing, it's too much for my brain to multi task. If something comes in it stays there and if I have to switch my focus its very difficult.

It's no surprise to me that they do go to New Mexico, because BBC America give them a load of money and permission to film there. It's been like this since Series 6, so its been going on for a while. More American viewers are watching Doctor Who now and are extending the fan base even more and are creating a new Doctor Who fan base, so its only logical that they get to film in a cool new location rather than a quart in Dorset for example.

The zygon threat is over powering because you can never tell who is who, thats how they get people. Say you want to blow up a zygon base and you see your loved ones, could you bring it upon yourself to kill them? No, because you think they're the originals. 

The Doctor's involvement in this story is brilliant, Peter Capaldi gives a fantastic performance as ever. Ingrid Oliver as Osgood is really good, Osgood being the centre of this story I am pleased that they've held to that and have given her much more to do.

Rebecca Front guest stars which I think is great because she's worked with Peter Capaldi before on 'The Thick of It' which is another great tv series to look at. 

I suppose the main thing to talk about really is the cliffhanger now, its one of the most dramatic cliffhangers of the series I think, and is just brilliant. I was hoping for this when I knew this story was coming and I got my wish. Clara is a Zygon! Yes! that moment when you find out that she is a zygon is a major turning point in the story and it gives Jenna something different to do as well. 

The zygon Clara takes a rocket launcher and fires it at the plane that the Doctor and Osgood are on. Now the trick with the cliffhanger is you don't see the plane blowing up, your left with the suggestion that is has. Obviously the Doctor and Osgood will be fine, I've seen the trailer for next week, they get out of it. 

Overall, the success of this story is down to awesome shots and epic suspense which never stops, keeps the audience guessing, amused and alert. And this from the same person who wrote 'Kill the Moon'? Fair play to director Daniel Nettheim for capturing the best that this story deserves. 4/5! 

NEXT WEEK: The Zygon Inversion.