Doctor Who - "The Rebel Flesh"

WHOSCALE: 7 out of 10

Following the masterpiece by Neil Gaiman, Matthew Graham was up next with a two part story. This would be the second story contributed to the series by Graham - his previous being "Fear Her."

It's not far fetched to say that "The Rebel Flesh" wasn't as brilliant as the previous episode by Gaiman, but it nevertheless was certainly more in line with what Doctor Who traditionally was than the opening two part story. The setting for the episode roughly follows what we would have seen in the original series - a isolated island, and old medieval castle, a group of scientist that aren't dressed in modern day tank tops and cargo khakis. The setting and format, as well as the storyline are really what carried this one though on the Whoscale. However, there were quite a number of things that I frequently noted while watching it.

The biggest drawback for me in this episode was the fact that the initial problem - the solar storm causing the gangers to go walkabout - was rushed through within the first fifteen minutes of the episode. It was actually so rushed that I recall having difficulty understanding what was going on the first time I watched it. Rushing the openig struck me as strange, considering that the story had the breathing room of two episodes. Normally, a two part story can unfold fluently and relatively slow, such as the case of "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances." Once it was established that the gangers were now teeter-tottering between "almost people" and exact duplicates of their originals, the remainder of the episode focused solely on how the originals refuted the existence of self-aware gangers. At the same time, the gangers themselves struggled to accept their new humanity, and were met with rejection from their originals, as well as Amy. 

That brings me to yet another disappointing element in this episode: The TARDIS crew are essentially divided into three camps on the doppleganger issue; The Doctor taking on a neutral role, as well as a peaceful coalition approach, while Amy sides with the originals and Rory defends Jennifer's ganger. 

By this time, I was absolutely fed up with suggestive themes regarding the stability of Amy and Rory's marriage. This issue is completely irrelevant to the series, or any science fiction series for that matter. In Star Wars, Han Solo and Leia slowly began to fall in love with each the other, and Lucas loosely alluded to this over the course of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but it was never so much that the central narrative of Star Wars had to be pushed aside for the sake of the audience finding out whether or not "it would work out." Simply because, that wasn't the issue, and it wasn't important. Not when you've got a platoon of Stormtroopers knocking at your doorstep.

With that said, I question why this continues to be a running theme in Doctor Who, even after it has been established (and then later undermined) numerous times that Amy's love for Rory and Rory's love for Amy is indisputable. The fact that I'm even having to gripe about "relationships" in a review of a science fiction series like Doctor Who is proof that somewhere, the show has gotten side tracked. This is something that shouldn't even be in a review like this.

The original series demonstrated for twenty-six years that you can have both male and female companions in the TARDIS simultaneously without having to incorporate a romantic theme. Jamie was the Second Doctor's companion for his entire run, save for the opening story for the Second Doctor, "The Power of the Daleks." Over the course of those three seasons, numerous female companions came and went, but never was a romantic plotline introduced, and the series did just fine. Some of the greatest stories in the history of the series were during Troughton's run.

The point is, science fiction needs to stick to being just that - science fiction. Any other genre that is introduced into such a series as a recurring sub-plot can serve no other purpose than to dilute the fundamental aim of the series - to appeal to the science fiction community. 

I've ranted about that enough. Yet another minus for this episode was the overuse of incidental music. This is something that I'm very picky about, and it's often one of the revived series' shortcomings. In the world of film, music is a method of invoking an emotional response from the audience by communicating a particular mood, or it can serve to accompany action sequences to amp up the drama. However, it can also serve as a distraction, particularly during dialogue scenes. If the writing is poor, or the actors aren't great, incidental music can be used to as a smokescreen for these things. The actors all looked great, and the story was fair, but it seems that Murray Gold often uses incidental music as a means of keeping the episode from dropping into a "too slow of a pace for the iGens." Many fans who were introduced to Doctor Who in 2005 and have since watched some of the original series have complained that it was "too slow paced" or "boring" to them. Granted, they are partially correct when noting it's slower pace, but the writing was brilliant and so were the actors, so it didn't need a smokescreen. You had to pay close attention to know what was going on, and music during a critical dialogue scene would only disrupt the viewer's concentration.

To summarize, the solar storm causing otherwise lifeless gangers to become self aware was the basis for the STORY. However, rather than spread that over the two episodes, Graham rushed through that to focus on what would be the basis of DRAMA - how the two sides would cope with each other. In the midst of this drama fest would be a torn Rory looking after the safety of a female ganger, all the while making a jealous Amy furious. The basic recipe for a modern day science fiction program. 

Already this story had disappointed on so many levels, and there was still half of it to go. For me, the story was covered in the opening fifteen minutes. What could there possibly be left to tell that would take an additional episode?

Doctor Who - "Day of the Moon"

WHOSCALE: 6.5 out of 10

Once again, Moffat opens the second part to this two part story with a completely different setting and time frame from the last episode's cliffhanger. The first five to ten minutes - like the first half - was tremendously fast paced, mainly focused on bringing viewers up to speed on the events in the last three months (the time we are told as elapsed since the close of "The Impossible Astronaut" and the opening of "Day of the Moon.")

After taking into consideration what all Moffat indicated took place BETWEEN the two episodes, I began thinking to myself, this could have been almost a 10-part story, up there with the likes of "The Daleks' Masterplan" and "The War Games." Had we still been on serial format, that's probably what we would have got. There was so much potential there for a serial, and it's shame that Moffat had to skim over it all in a few brief clips. Even though it was shown that the four members of the TARDIS crew had been separated over the course of the past three months, a series of episodes filling this gap could have easily followed them each in much the same way we followed the TARDIS crew in "The Keys of Marinus," where The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan were separated over different continents on Marinus, eventually reuniting with each other near the end of the story, and it was only a six-part serial.

However, things seem to take a slight upward turn in regards to the Whoscale when Canton and Amy arrive at the orphanage. During this sequence, Moffat turned up the creepiness level, toned down the background music to a Whoscale-friendly level, and slowed the pace down as well. This was of course, short lived. 

Perhaps the most annoying thing Moffat was doing at this point was still toying with the whole "Amy hasn't made up her mind yet" theme. Seriously? We're still on this? "Flesh And Stone," "The Vampires of Venice," "Amy's Choice," and "The Big Bang" have all tinkered with this theme, and it was my understanding that we had resolved this issue at the close of last season with the wedding of Amy and Rory. Yet, in spite of the couple saying their vows, Moffat still seems to get a giggle out of giving fan girlies something to gossip about. Speaking of Amy, one thing I failed to mention in my previous review was how Moffat suddenly dropped this sub-plot on us. A little girl is screaming for help in an old abandoned warehouse - yes, this seems an appropriate time to sit down with The Doctor (NOT RORY, MIND YOU!) and tell him you're PREGNANT. What the fudge?!! Come on, Moffat! That's one of Davies' stunts! You don't have to do it, too. 

So Amy's pregnant, then she's not. The she is, then she's not. Then we're lead to believe that it might be The Doctor's, and not Amy's. Oh no, SCANDAL IN THE TARDIS!! Why is this pathetic soap scum in a science fiction television series that's about traveling time and space? Moffat, you can't appeal to EVERYONE. There are people out there who just DON'T LIKE the fantasy sci-fi thing. They like scandal, cheating, heart breaks, heart throbs, relationships rising and falling, and all the drama that comes with it. Those people have Jersey Shore. Those people have The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. You can't make a series set in space appeal to those people, unless you make it Jersey Shore: In Space. Granted, you can do that, but that's not what Doctor Who is about, now is it? If you want to write Doctor Who, then write for the audience that watches because it's Doctor Who, not the audience that's divided on whether it's The Doctor's baby or whether it's Rory's.

Now before some fan girl goes bananas and makes a comment rant, I'm fully aware that Amy's pregnancy played a key role later in the season, but it could have fulfilled that role without needing to be smothered in soapy soap opera.

Amy is once again snatched away from Rory in much the same fashion as she was in last season's "The Hungry Earth."

The episode seemed to spend a lot of time uncovering who the mysterious little girl is, only to address the Silent occupation issue in the last twenty minutes. It was clever how the occupation was resolved, but something about this solution still didn't strike me just right. The Doctor didn't lead the way into this solution. In fact, The Doctor has consistently relied on his companions to take the upper hand, as he has been known to do often since the revival in 2005. This episode is a clear example, where we are left ASSUMING that the humans were able to take care of the Silents. In other words, The Doctor was already leaving before it was confirmed that the Silents were gone. I didn't see the Fourth Doctor doing this. He would have stayed until he was absolutely certain the threat was over. 

River is dropped off back at Stormcage (again), and we learn that the kiss The Doctor and River share in this scene is not only their first, but their last. Be sure to make a mental note of this when you read my review of this season's finale.

In another unusual move for The Doctor, the whole business about the Silents, their purpose, etc. is dropped completely in favor of some unrelated adventures.

In closing, looking back at the two part story as a whole, there was so much of the story told in either flashbacks or montages, that each part felt more like completely independent stand alone episodes. As bad as this sounds, I think it was a complex story that had to be crammed into 90 minutes of screen time, and the end result was a fuster cluck of a mess. Unless Moffat is prepared to change the series back over to serial format, whether it be 45 minute episodes or 25 minute episodes, I don't think a story this complex should be attempted again. If it is, it's going to need no less than three full episodes to itself. Imagine if Russell T Davies had tried to tell the "Last of the Time Lords" trilogy in only two episodes? There's no way he could have effectively squeezed the events of "Utopia" into the opening of "The Sound of Drums."

One final note - the last scene in this episode was probably the most intriguing . The little girl that occupied the space suit is last seen in an alley regenerating, revealing that she is either a Time Lord, or possesses characteristics similar to one.

The opening story came to close, with many questions still left unanswered. It wasn't the best start, and even though we were only two episodes in, it was already looking like Series 5/Season 31 was going to be the golden season since 2005.

Doctor Who - "The Impossible Astronaut"

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

Following the Christmas special, Steven Moffat penned the opening story to Series 6/Season 32. In addition to this being the official start of the second season under the reign of Moffat, this also marked the first time since 2005 that the arrangement of episodes in a season don't follow the same pattern. Series 1-5/Seasons 27-31 all opened with the first three episodes being single-episode stories, followed by a two-part story, then one or two singles, another two parter, one or two more singles, then a finale two parter. Moffat elected to open this season with a two part story. 

As with the last episode, this one was also a bit difficult for me to score on my Whoscale. However, off the top of my head - after just watching it in a classic Doctor Who frame of mind - I can point out two or three things that I immediately noted. 

One is the pacing of the episode. This is beyond any doubt the fastest paced two part story Moffat has contributed. There was a lot to cover in this episode, such as the blue envelopes, Amy and Rory meeting The Doctor, further information regarding the true identity of River Song, as well a TARDIS full of questions. 

A question I would love answered by Moffat is why the story opens with Amy and Rory at home enjoying married life, after he made it clear at the close of "The Big Bang" that Amy and Rory wished to continue traveling with The Doctor even after they were married. He even further indicated this in "A Christmas Carol," where Amy and Rory are on their honeymoon, but still traveling with The Doctor. Even at the close of that episode, neither of them gave any indication that they wished to return to Leadworth. So why were the two of them home? And why was The Doctor off on his own without them? I understand the TECHNICAL reason for it - that if the episode opened with Amy and Rory already aboard the TARDIS, it would have been practically impossible to introduce into the mix a "future" Doctor, which is who Amy and Rory initially meet - a Doctor that is some 200 years older than the one at the close of "A Christmas Carol." Nevertheless, no reason is given in terms of storyline why Amy and Rory are back home. This isn't the behavior of a companion(s). They don't travel with the Doctor, take a vacation, then join back up with him later. When they do leave, it's normally only an episode away from The Doctor meeting a new one, so how was The Doctor able to lollygag about the cosmos for 200 years without a companion? And showing now signs of aging? Yes people, Time Lords DO age normally in each incarnation. The Doctor wasn't born an old, white haired man.

As I'll note as I review later episodes in this season, Moffat was surely working on a story arc that is spanning the entire length of the Eleventh Doctor's era, so some of my questions may be answered further down the road. It's not uncommon for Moffat to tinker with complex paradoxes with this writing, and this season is no exception.

Another thing I noted was a more regular use of shaky cam. In some scenes, it isn't Bourne Supremacy skaky, but it isn't steady. This is most noticeable throughout the entire course of the Arizona scenes, from the picnic beside the lake until Amy, Rory, and River watch Darth Vader....I mean Anakin, no wait...sorry thought I'd flipped over to Return of the Jedi there for a second.

Have I mentioned the pacing? We're only ten minutes into the first episode of a two part story, and already Amy, Rory, River, Canton and The Doctor have received blue envelopes, met in a diner, synced diaries, gone on a picnic by a Lake, seen a Silent, forgot it, an astronaut has walked out of the lake, briefly spoke to The Doctor, KILLED The Doctor before he can regenerate, found  a conveniently placed boat, placed The Doctor's body in it, doused him with gasoline, burned his body in the lake, met back at the diner, and met up with a younger version of The Doctor they just met. Still with me? 

I think it's fair to say that Moffat went just a little too far overboard with twisted plotlines and paradoxes. The first time I watched this, I had no clue whatsoever what was going on. The first ten minutes had me so confused that I couldn't even enjoy it. 

The episode finally slows things down a notch once The Doctor arrives at the Oval Office and meets President Nixon and a younger Canton. The Doctor tracks down where the mysterious phone call is coming from, and off in the TARDIS they go. Even at the warehouse, the pacing is still relatively steady, and doesn't feel rushed. Still tons of shaky cam here, though.

The emotional wreck Amy was at the lake after The Doctor's death made me cringe. WAAAAYYY too much drama there, Moffat. The Doctor is dead, yes. But the vocal soundtrack? Amy sobbing over his body, telling him to wake up? A little over the top, in my opinion.

Perhaps this episode's one saving grace is the Silents themselves. A terrific design, both in nature and appearance. Another that I felt is worth noting is the close ups of The Doctor at the lake while he's talking to the astronaut. The look of those shots - lighting, background - reminded me of classic Who quarry days, so a few points.

Don't get me wrong, it was a brilliant idea, but the audience can't keep up at this pace. If the first episode of a two part story required being rushed this much to squeeze the story into two parts, it should be more than two parts. In my opinion, this first episode could have EASILY been spread over two 45 minute episodes, leaving the second half of the story to be told over two more.

Since this is the first review of this season, I'll make it clear now: Moffat has been my favorite writer, but the criteria of a Doctor Who episode doesn't change, so from now on, I can't show Moffat any mercy.

Doctor Who - "The Hungry Earth"

WHOSCALE: 9 out of 10

The second two parter for this season was penned by Chris Chibnall, who had previously contributed the Tenth Doctor story, "42."

Under the direction of Moffat, Chibnall is the second writer to have a kind of redemption story since the Davies era.

The idea behind this story was obviously to reintroduce the classic villains, the Silurians. To do that, Chibnall borrowed heavily from the flavor of the Third Doctor era, which was when the Silurians got the most air time.

There were tons of nods to the original series in this episodes, particularly the structure of the episode. It contained all the traditional elements you would have found in a Earth-based Third Doctor story - a mining operation, a small, rural village, and a scarce team of scientists drilling into the Earth's crust. Additionally, Chibnall successfully overcame the issue of avoiding present-day times while still setting the story relatively close to 2010 (in 2020), thus there's no reason to suspect that touch screen technology and present day clothes wouldn't still be the norm.

The plot is poured on thick in the beginning, with strange grass growing in the cemetery, a man swallowed up by the Earth, and empty graves with no visible sign of being disturbed. Although I knew well before this episode aired that it would be a Silurian story, I imagined when watching this time around what it must have been like for someone who hadn't followed production of the season before it aired, with absolutely no clue what this one was about. I expect it was even more of treat for Third Doctor fans than it was for me.

Everything seemed spot on in this episode. The pacing was a bit faster than that of "The Time Of Angels, " but not enough to feel like the producers were having to cram a six episode story into one. The music was sparingly used once again, if not a slight bit more powerful than what was used in "The Time Of Angels."

The Doctor is once again leading the way in this episode, with companions Amy and Rory tagging along as they should, and the two puzzled scientists joining in. Strange for the new series, but Amy was absent for much of this episode, having suffered the same fate as Mo near the beginning. She only appears in a couple of shots then, one of those being from a Silurian viewpoint, and a short scene near the end of the episode where a Silurian surgeon is apparently about to dissect her, having already done so on Mo.

As with most of the episodes from Moffat's debut season, I could find very little that just turned me off about it. If I just had to pick any minuses, it would be the slight over-injection of drama from The Doctor as Amy is pulled underground, the other being the CGI backdrop at the very end, and the ridiculous time discrepancy when The Doctor & company are setting up a security system - they had eight minutes to do, and it's hardly feasibly to accomplish what they did in that time. The "montage" format that is used even further indicates that far more time than eight minutes passed.

The production team took a new approach to the look of the Silurians, which has gotten mixed opinions since the episode aired. Personally, I think they looked fantastic. All mask and costume and no CGI will always win in my book. However, they did seem to fall a bit short on the facial features; the new breed of Silurian retains more human characteristics than their 1970s predecessors. No doubt this was to better smooth the transition for audiences. A sort of "safety measure" so they wouldn't look too far-fetched alien. At any rate, I think the revamp of the Silurians turned out far better than that of the Cybermen.

As with traditional Doctor Who style, the episode ends on a cliffhanger, leading up to the setting of the second part.

Doctor Who - "Amy's Choice"

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

This episode was penned by Simon Nye, and was his first contribution to the series. This was perhaps the darkest story since Moffat took over, and the premise was no doubt a good one, but since the episode - as the title implies - revolves chiefly around Amy, it didn't fare so well on the Whoscale.

Once again, we find ourselves in the same hole we were in during the Davies era - a companion-driven story, with the antagonist(s) set as a subplot. That is the number one reason this episode did not score higher. What is the deal with Doctor Who revolving around the companions? Is it so hard to write an entire season where the trio, as a TEAM, discover, encounter, and overcome a situation?

This is something that has and always will bother me about the revived series, and for the life of me I cannot see what could possibly be so appealing about it that such a good writer such as Moffat would chose to continue those trends during his reign. No one can argue that by "The End Of The World" during the Davies era, we had already surmised that the series was largely going to focus on Rose, and when "Father's Day" came along, it was practically an international public announcement.

I can honestly say I had trouble scoring this episode. There were so many elements that would have worked fantastic in terms of classic Doctor Who, but once the episode shifted to more or less having Amy decide between The Doctor or Rory, it just killed it.

Yet another thing that just baffles me about the revived series. Why in God's name does every companion have to be emotionally involved with The Doctor???!! Why is the love triangle a necessity in a science fiction series?! To even entertain the notion of a relationship between The Doctor and one of his companions is to invite elements into the story that can serve no purpose other than to distract the focus of the episode from the main plot line.

The episode's intent to focus on Amy caused a tremendous plot error later in the episode; The Dream Lord was a figment out of THE DOCTOR'S imagination, so why was he so hell bent on singling out Amy?! What does that mean? That the Doctor secretly returns Amy's affection for him, and secretly wants her to choose between himself or Rory?

As my readers already know, I'm extremely anti-shaky cam, and this episode is full of it. I'm almost positive that the shaky cam was explicitly used here to further enhance the feeling of being in a "dream," but as I've said before - it's makes the shot look like it was filmed in a hurry, like the cameraman was in hurry to finish so he could take a piss, or because they were five minutes past lunch time, etc. At the very least, it probably makes some viewers with weaker stomachs sea sick....errr...Tee sick. TEE as in "T" - Television!

The setting was ideal for classic Who - the rural village of upper Leadworth, and the initial plot was good - the idea of a darker side of The Doctor forcing the trio to shift back and forth between to realities, each with inherent dangers, and having them choose one. Normally, a respectable Doctor Who writer would have The Doctor work out a solution to the problem, but to fill the absence of originality is the usual substitute - just have the companion save the day instead.

Rory's death causes Amy to make the choice for all of them, saving the day. Why would The Doctor go along with such reckless behavior? What if she was wrong? There was no LOGICAL reason behind the unnecessary risk they take in the van. I say LOGICAL reason - there IS a reason, it's just not logical. The reason being Amy proving her love for Rory to the viewers. What the f**k?! I don't care if they love each other or not! The TARDIS is freezing over, we're being terrorized by Eknodine-infested pensioners, and we still don't have any safe, logical way of determining which is the dream and which is reality! Eh, logic and safety be damned. Let's throw our own lives out the window as well and HOPE we guessed right. That way we can quickly wrap this episode up. Rory is dead now, so there's no love triangle anymore, so no engine to ooze drama, and no real reason to continue further with this story.

Speaking of Rory's death, get out your chalkboard and ckalkstick, because this episode is the first of numerous future episodes where Rory seems to "die," and is later resurrected.

Yet another "quick fix" to an otherwise grim situation was when The Doctor had got cornered in a freezer at a butcher shop. With angry Eknodines on the other side of the door, how can a Time Lord get out of this rut? Easy. Just set your all-purpose sonic screwdriver to the "cause Eknodines to let you pass by them without even a tap on the wrist by simply shooting out a light bulb above them" setting and you're home free! Just point and click!

I've watched this episode several times since it aired, and I've always liked it, but never really realized how distant it was from original Doctor Who until I sat down earlier tonight and watched it with my review goggles on.

It was a well conceived story, but the companion driven plots were getting beyond old, and the companion saving the day was just plum ridiculous. What makes both of these things such episode killers for me is that NEITHER of them should be in an episode of Doctor Who, if you're going by the rulebook written by Newman, Letts, Holmes, Hinchcliffe, Turner and the rest of the original series production crew. Bottom line is, true Doctor Who fans HATE these kinds of episodes, Mr. Moffat, and they aren't going to start liking them, no matter how cleverly you twist them into a plot. The stories should be antagonist-driven, and should be concluded by the lead role. In this case, it's THE DOCTOR. No matter how you slice it, unless you're going to rename the show, he has, is and forever always will be THE LEAD ROLE. You can't shift another character to the front and still brand it "Doctor Who."