FEATURE: Shocktober '15 - Oculus

Over the course of October, I shall be watching one horror movie a day and reviewing it right here for your reading pleasure. I haven't seen any of the films I'll be watching before and you can find the full list here. Mild spoilers.

Kaylie (Karen Gillan) has a good job at an auction house and a nice handsome boyfriend whose family owns the company (One Tree Hill's James Lafferty - yo Nathan). She also has a brother, Tim (Brenton Thwaites), about to be released from a mental facility where he has spent the last ten years after supposedly killing their parents (Katee Sackhoff and Rory Cochrane). Yet all is not what it seems as Kaylie is determined that a mirror known as the Lasser Glass is actually responsible, possessed by a supernatural force that turns its owners maniacally murderous. She and Tim return to their old house with the mirror and are forced to confront their family's history of violence.

Structurally, the film is particularly clever, weaving in the original family breakdown alongside its reflection in older Tim and Kaylie's present as they are doomed to repeat the night's events, albeit with their own twist. That idea of sight, perception and being able to trust what you can see or remember is built into the film on a technical level. The editing is seamless as scenes from the past begin interfering with the present and vice versa, the physical blocking of the scenes almost as elegant as the sweeping camera movements that blend the transitions. Directing, writing and editing, Mike Flanagan controls all of this with the confidence of a seasoned veteran, building an atmosphere steadily and orchestrating it to an intense crescendo.

The mirror itself functions as the logical centre of the movie in that it can create its own; hallucinations are par for the course, adding to that sense of displacement between past and present. It also means that the film avoids the stupid character trope, an almost cynical manoeuvre on Flanagan's part to ensure that any daft points can be waved away with "the mirror did it." Thankfully, that only becomes obvious once you start thinking about the movie once you've finished watching it and not operating as an in-movie distraction. The taut structure keeps you bound in with the unfolding events, though once it becomes apparent that Tim and Kaylie are repeating all their old moves, Oculus becomes its own walking spoiler.

That's not necessarily a bad thing either, lending a doomladen inevitability to the narrative and really, what makes Oculus such an absorbing experience is that even if you strip away all of the supernatural elements, the film still operates as a domestic tragedy. Kaylie and Tim are battling their own traumas, the effects left upon them by their parents' violent marital breakdown. The mirror's influence simply gives them a point of blame. 

It's aided by the Scully and Mulder dynamic that's established between Tim and Kaylie, only here it's the redhead who's the full believer opposite a sceptic brunette. The film itself seems to oscillate between the two points of view so, around the mid-point, you're never quite sure if it's going to take you down the supernatural route or pull you back into the real world. It's a dizzying effect and combined with the film's determination to mess with both the audience's and the characters' perception makes for an unsettling combination.

That sense of tragedy would be nothing without the six heartfelt performances from the family Russell both past and present. I've adored Katee Sackhoff since Starbuck so it's no surprise that she's excellent here. As Marie begins to unravel, Sackhoff's physical performance takes over, crashing through the house with a kind of primal ferocity. Cochrane offers a more composed contrast, but possibly all the more terrifying for it. Basso and Ryan as the younger siblings capture the fear that comes with seeing the family breakdown, even before anything supernatural occurs.

However, the film relies on Thwaites and Gillan to bring everything together within the present day plotline and their estranged sibling dynamic feeds into their polar opposite views. Thwaites is probably given the more difficult task as Tim has to come to terms with re-remembering how the events of that fateful night played out whilst trying to prevent it happen again. Gillan particularly impresses, never succumbing to the hysterics that often characterise a horror heroine and is, in fact, particularly pragmatic. One suspects her time on Doctor Who helped with her ability to fire out exposition and she makes it seem effortless.

I must confess that I began Oculus with the expectation of it being a fairly typical haunted house/possession type deal, but was pleasantly surprised by a film that's far more ambitious than it initially lets on. Flanagan's created something that, like the best horrors, works on multiple levels and though aspects of it fray when you dwell on them too long after the credits, it never lets you off the hook during its runtime.

- Becky

You can find my other Shocktober '15 reviews here.

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TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Time of the Doctor

With the dawning of the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth hour, Matt Smith’s time as The Doctor has drawn to a close. Which leaves me with the unenviable task of attempting to summarise one of the most complex episodes in Doctor Who history, ‘The Time of the Doctor’, lest we all spend the next few weeks completely and utterly bamboozled.

Along with his new friend Handles, a friendly severed Cyberman head, The Doctor begins the special hour long episode flitting between different ships orbiting an unknown planet, from which an, also unknown, message is being continually broadcast. After visiting both the Cybermen and Dalek ships, as unsuccessfully as would be expected when unwittingly carrying broken parts of the occupants, The Doctor heads off to Earth to pick up best pal Clara (Jenna Louise Coleman). She, meanwhile, this being a Christmas special, is attempting to roast a turkey for the family she suddenly seems to have. After a brief stint of pretending, badly, to be Clara’s boyfriend at her behest, the two set off in the direction of the mysterious message. Handles suggests that the planet is in fact Gallifrey, an idea The Doctor naturally and passionately rejects having previously locked Gallifrey safely into a time pocket outside of the Universe. Next, he and Clara are invited onto a church spaceship run by cool space lady Tasha Lem (Orla Brady). Having somehow secured the unknown planet, Tasha asks The Doctor if he fancies having a butchers before anybody else does. Naturally, he does.

On arrival, he and Clara find themselves in a snowy town called Christmas, again, it’s Christmas Day, people! It appears that no one in this town can tell a lie, although this potential plotline is quickly dropped. They follow the message to the town’s church tower, and find a crack in reality through which, it transpires, the Time Lords of Gallifrey are asking the question ‘Doctor who?’ over and over. It is a request for him to speak his real name and thereby confirm his presence and location. However, this confirmation would bring the lost Time Lords hurtling back into the present Universe, causing all manner of timey-wimey chaos, not to mention re-starting the Time War, especially with all those spaceships hovering just above the planet. Alarmed, The Doctor asks Tasha to tell him what planet they’re on. By now, of course, it can almost be nowhere but Trenzalore, the planet The Doctor is buried upon. Tricking Clara in returning to Earth, The Doctor spends the next 300 hundred years of the siege as a sort of stalemate sheriff, protecting the townspeople from attack, whilst simultaneously refusing to answer Gallifrey’s message.

Keeping up?

Eventually, having grabbed on to the TARDIS like Captain Jack Harkness before her (I miss him), Clara arrives back on Trenzalore, to find a visibly aged Doctor who knows he has now used up all his re-generations, and doesn’t, ironically enough, have much time left. Back on the church ship, now ominously named The Church of the Silence, Tasha explains that Madame Kovarian (eye patch lady, remember her?) broke away from the main Papal Mainframe, and attempted to kill The Doctor to prevent the siege ever happening – hence River Song and the original appearance of The Silence etc etc. Tasha then turns into a Dalek having had her consciousness invaded by the tricksy blighters. Eventually, after a little more to-ing and fro-ing which as far I can see was wholly unnecessary, a frail and elderly Doctor faces his old enemies in a sort of last stand. A distraught Clara pleads into the time crack, asking the Time Lords to save their old countryman one last time. Fortunately, they send a last bit of regeneration energy through the sky, allowing The Doctor to defeat the Daleks and pop back up in the TARDIS as his younger self, just in time to say goodbye to Clara, as well as a hallucination of Amy Pond (Karen Gillan).

Finally, he regenerates into a bewildered and slightly manic looking Peter Capaldi, who, worryingly, begins his tenure by asking a terrified Clara if she knows how to fly the TARDIS. And so the thirteenth age begins.

Phew. For a moment or two there I didn’t think we were going to make it through all that. Which, funnily enough, is almost exactly how I felt when watching the episode. All plot holes and references to prior events felt at best, shoe-horned in for the sake of wrapping them up. At worst, they were damaging to the episode's plot, taking attention away from Matt Smith’s exit and totally ballsing up his one chance to say goodbye before the start of Capaldi’s reign. Smith has been a fine Doctor, playing the part with a lovely mixture of playfulness, mischief, bravery and brains. It's shame the episode appears to have been planned out without nearly half as much care and attention as Smith has put into his performance week after week. In fact if it wasn’t for the lynchpin of Clara Oswald, the whole episode would have spun off into a vortex of confusion faster than an out of control TARDIS. Thinking back to David Tennant’s final moments as our Gallifreyan hero, I can help but think it’s a shame Matt Smith didn’t get the same treatment. Sure, the re-appearance of Amy and young Amelia was tear-jerking, but only for about ten seconds, that being the only breathing space Moffat’s over-full episode was left with.

It was an exciting start to Capaldi’s career in the TARDIS, true, but overall it was a badly paced, impossibly complex and deeply unsatisfying ending to the storyline of Smith’s Doctor. And he deserved better than that if you ask me, and I'm still a Tennant girl at heart.

Jen

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FEATURE: Doctor Who - Jen, Becky and the Seventh Series

And here it is, our final instalment of our Bank Holiday Doctor Who special, a discussion of our favourite bits of this series. We've brought you a review of each episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who, complete with Christmas special (you can find them all here) but we thought that, seeing as its a while until the 50th Anniversary and even longer until the eighth, Jen and Becky are going to be looking back at the series as a whole; the highs, the lows, the Rory...

If you're new to our little discussion articles, you can follow who is saying what at the left hand side with our initials. Of course, one day, we're going to confuse you all by changing the system. But that is not this day.

B: I'll kick things off shall I? In the broadest sense, I really liked the seventh series; it had some great individual episodes (as well as some not-so-good ones), but I'm enjoying Matt Smith as the Doctor and he seems to carry me through the worse instalments. His performance has been routinely excellent throughout and I'm loving the smaller moments he has with his companions. There was a really nice chemistry between him, Rory and Amy that had developed in the first half of the series before Christmas, which just made The Angels Take in Manhattan even more tragic.

J: Agreed. I cried for about a week after what I now refer to as 'The Manhattan Incident'. For me, this series has been the one in which I've finally accepted Matt Smith as the Doctor, and stopped wondering how David Tennant would perform in a particular scene. He's really made the role his own, as they say. And he seems to have done it one tear at a time, which is rather unusual for the show and indeed the character. That said, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't beside myself with excitment at the prospect of DT's return in the 50th special. Shame they can't somehow resurrect Rory though...

B: Well you know how I feel about Rory. But I do think Jenna-Louise Coleman has been a fine addition to the TARDIS control room even if I am getting a little annoyed with everyone describing her as feisty as if that is somehow revelatory in a female character. But I digress. I think she has been a great foil for Smith and has a way with Moffat and the other writers' dialogue that completely humanises even the more ridiculous things she has to say in the line of science fiction.

J: I think we all know how you feel about Rory. It's the nose. And ah yes. Feisty Clara. Blackpool's own. I don't know whether it' just because her accent reminds me of home, but I've found her a lot more easy to like than Amy Pond. Who, come to think of it, wasn't exactly a wallflower herself so I'm also clueless as to why fesity seems to have become Clara's personal epithet. I think it's her common sense, to the point nature (you can take the girl out of Lancashire...) which helps with the more baffling bits of dialogue. Ironic really, giving how grand her destiny has turned out to be. 

B: Exactly. And I LOVED how they handled her many appearances through time in The Name of the Doctor. Whilst it hasn't exactly been explained why she was born to save the Doctor (something for the eighth series maybe?), the many Claras actually made logical, coherent sense, which I think we can all agree is remarkably refreshing for a Who finale. It also gave us many a welcome glimpse at Doctors long and not-so-long past. One of the higher points for the series don't you agree?

J: Certainly. I almost thought I'd missed something, it made so much sense. I kept waiting for it twist around and reveal that she was actually The Doctor's long lost Auntie Mildred. I would have liked to have seen her weaved into a few more moments from recent series I think, but it was still very well executed. Do we think her and The Doctor's relationship might develop into something a little more than professional in Series 8? I've heard a few rumours. Especially now that River-Spoliers-Song has now departed back into the confusing web of time from whence she came.

B: I've long thought that there might be something more with the Doctor and Clara. He's very affectionate with her, lots of kisses to the forehead and a lot of hugging. There has been an overabundance with kissing companions since Who returned, but the Ponds were a noticeable shift - I always thought that the Doctor and Amy had chemistry more akin to siblings, but there is definitely another vibe with Clara. I like Coleman and Smith together so I'm not wholly opposed to it, but I do hope that it is something a little more equal, not another Martha-gazing-adoringly-forever at the Doctor. Because that really sucked. So what did we think of the various episodes of Series Seven?

J: Yes the forehead kisses have been very noticeable, along with all the 'my Clara's'. I also half wondered if that's why the TARDIS rejected her a bit. Jealousy? Episodes wise, my personal favourite was The Crimson Horror. Along with Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. Hide was a bit of a disappointment. I didn't think The Name of the Doctor was as good as The Angels Take Manhattan, in the fullness of honesty, and I also think that all the series breaks we have these days take something of the sense of occasion out of end of series episodes. There'll be a few Doctor Who parties come November, mind.

B: Agreed. I've not liked the way this series has been split up; it felt like it had to pick up momentum all over again after the heartbreaking The Angels Take Manhattan, which was probably one of the best episodes. And I did love The Crimson Horror, it was a great episode, but I think my personal favourite was Hide actually. Although I did have a problem with the ending, I loved the atmosphere it created as it felt like a proper ghost story. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS had the most wasted potential I think; whilst it was nice to see the library, the swimming pool and a quick glance at the Eye of Harmony, I absolutely hated the ending. Why work on all that character development with Clara if you're not actually going to take it anywhere? Reset buttons are the bane of science fiction and it really, really frustrated me. As you can probably tell.

J: Er yes I can rather. And yes it was the ending of Hide that ruined it for me. Far too much going on, a story within a story within a bizarre heartbroken alien. I'm certainly intrigued to see where we go from here. I notice the two-parters have ceased now, apparently after feedback from Moffat's young children. There's also the potential for several brand new character arcs now we've left a few beyond. Which I'm rather pleased about, as I couldn't stand River. I love the new Scooby Gang though, Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax are all brilliant characters. Any wild predictions or theories for Series 8? Oh and can we please stop mentioning Manhattan? I've only just come out of therapy.

B: Apologies - consider the Manhattan file closed! I think two-parters need to make a return personally, if only to give some of the stories a little more room to breathe. We've both observed the habit to wrap up things a little too quickly in certain episodes. As for wild predictions and theories, I'm thinking that, post-50th Anniversary episode, we're going to see some interesting developments for The Doctor who will no doubt be dealing with the fallout from it. And perhaps we'll find out who created Clara. Was it River? Was it the Daleks? I personally think they should go for something completely bonkers and have a previous Doctor see the future, realise what the Great Intelligence was going to do, create Clara in a weird timey-wimey sort of way and drop her off in the future for Matt Smith's Doctor to find. And maybe throw in Madame Vestra, Jenny and Strax for good measure. That probably doesn't make any sense. But then again, it probably won't in the show either. How about you? Madder the better.

J: I think the 50th Anniversary Episode will delve a little further into The Doctor's character, which I don't think we've had too much of lately. I actually think Smith's Doctor is more understated than Tennant's, and is often upstaged by his own companions. Fan as I am of Clara, this series has really all been about her, and I'd like more of a Doctor-centric focus, especially as his character has developed so much since the departure of the Ponds. If I could make requests, I'd like to see an episode on the wedding of Vastra and Jenny, a two-parter in which Straz becomnes an unlikely romantic hero and more of The Doctor's pathetic attempts at babysitting. More than that though, after this fairly substantial knock to his invincibility, I'd like Series Eight to involve The Doctor re-writing himself into history after systematically erasing himself in Seven, saving the universe all over again and generally being The Doctor. Which, let's face it, is why we watch it.

B: Definitely. To bring this full circle, Matt Smith has proven time and again that he has the acting chops to handle the weightier dramatic aspects with his curious balance of youth and maturity. I can't wait to see what Moffat has in store for us...

Whatever Series Eight has to offer, you can guarantee we here at Assorted Buffery will be there to watch it. So what do you all think of Series Seven? Agree, disagree, we would both love to know.

- Becky and Jen

You can find Jen's review of The Name of the Doctor here and Becky's retrospective look at Doctor Who (1996) here.

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TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Angels Take Manhattan

Hello all. Having both reviewed two episodes of this series each, and being unable to decide which of us should write the finale review, we have, very diplomatically, decided to write it together. So in lieu of there being an actual episode of Doctor Who this week, get your Time Lord related fill here, with our review of The Angels Take Manhattan.

Becky: Yes indeed, together, Jen and I plan to get over our mutual mourning process for the demise of the Ponds by discussing the final episode of this first half of series seven. Talking is supposedly the best form of therapy after all.

Jen: I’m still in pieces. I think I may require counselling. Can I charge that to the BBC do you think?

B: Alas, I don't think they do compensation for mourning, but this was by far the most affecting companion departure since Rose left (for the first time). Whilst Donna's was just as tragic, the Ponds' last appearance was both terribly sad and yet still a happy ending. After all, they got to be together for the rest of their lives and proved just how much they loved and depended upon each other. Mixed emotions across the board with that one. I weeped openly and I'm not ashamed of it.

J: Quite. Anyway, this series’ Doctor Who finale saw a monster now almost, almost as legendary as my beloved Daleks, the Weeping Angels, unleash their creepy, finger pointing fury on downtown New York. A routine trip to the world capital of cool resulted in poor put-upon Rory being whisked back in time by the Angels, the Doctor, Amy and River hot on his heels with the help of a mysterious crime novel. Can they find him and bring him back to the present time before the Angels take over the city?

Despite the seemingly popular opinion that any big Doctor Who storyline now warrants an immediate hop across the Atlantic, for my money the setting change allowed for an extra level of drama in the usually London/Cardiff centric show- it raised the stakes. It also suited the show’s film noir look down to the ground.

B: With the new aim of this series being a blockbuster a week, we've seen dinosaur-related capers and horror tropes, but it was The Angels Take Manhattan that really ran with its chosen genre. Film noir is a personal favourite of mine and Moffat utilised it perfectly here alongside the Weeping Angels for which the balance of light and shadow was especially fitting. It also really suited the New York setting; instead of the usual whirlwind tour of the landmarks, we got claustrophobic buildings, badly-lit hallways and a city populated by men in trench coats and trilbies. It was an excellent choice and really added to the foreboding atmosphere of this sort-of finale.

J: The storyline worked beautifully well, and the pacing was spot on. The plot hurtled in the direction of the big finale/send-off with oodles of suspense and seat edge sitting.

B: Yes, the construction of this episode was really quite something. From the Melody Malone novel to the Doctor's repeated detestation of endings, the sense of foreboding permeated every scene. We all knew that the Ponds' demise was never going to involve rainbows and smiles, but Moffat toyed with us throughout, particularly in the suicide pact that almost, almost gave you hope that Amy and Rory might just be ok. 

J: Agreed. As has been the case all series, the Ponds far outshone everybody else on screen in almost every scene. Even the Statue of Liberty was barely a match for their coupled charisma. Despite some genuinely heart-breaking scenes, the deep warmth and quirkiness of their relationship remained apparent to the last. Whilst there were some interesting and rather sweet parallels between their marriage and that of The Doctor and River towards the end of the episode, the latter two felt very much like an add-on in the wake of the Ponds’ departure. The strategic centring of their story in every episode over the past few weeks well and truly paid off.

B: Applause must also be given to Matt Smith, the ever-present centre of the show and he really blew me away with this episode. The frequent warnings about the Doctor being alone build in well to the mourning process that he (along with the rest of the Whoniverse) must go through after losing two of his closest companions. He said early on that he didn't like endings and his pleading with Amy to stay was quite simply heartbreaking. I've long been an advocate of Smith's Doctor; I've always felt he captured all of the contradictions inherent in the Time Lord right from the start and here, he showed just how sad and how lonely the Doctor can be.

J: Not to mention that it was exactly what Doctor Who always set out to be- downright scary. The Angels have always been creepy, but this was something else. They were more freely moving than ever before and more powerful. They could have been anywhere, around the next corner or right behind you.

B: I have to admit, the inclusion of the angels was actually something I didn't think worked too well in this episode. Without doubt they are one of the scariest Who-villains in years, but they're starting to suffer a little from over-exposure (something which both the Daleks and Cybermen have suffered in recent years). Whilst Moffat found interesting things to do with them, the child-angels in particular were very creepy, the same level of suspense that had fuelled Blink just wasn't there. They were, of course, essential to the wibbley-wobbley-timey-wimey- plot that saw Rory and Amy sent back in time, but I can't help thinking the Angels need to be benched for a bit in order to retain what keeps them so scary.

J: Well I was scared.

The adrenaline of the angels gave a lovely feeling of ‘please don’t let it be over yet’ to the show, and a genuine lack of clock watching. But, alas, end it had to, giving Rory and Amy’s characters the most fitting send- off they could have had.

B: It's going to take a long time for me to get over losing Rory (you all know how I feel about Rory) but I must admit, I am immensely intrigued to see how they solve the whole Oswin-was-a-Dalek problem. If it's anywhere near as well-made as this episode, the Christmas special will be a very special festive blockbuster.

J: Roll on the Christmas special.

- Jen and Becky

You can read all of our Doctor Who reviews so far here.

Follow us on Twitter on @jenniferklarge and @beckygracelea
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TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Power of Three

The Power of Three finds the Ponds torn between their two lives, real life and life with the Doctor. Meanwhile, mysterious black cubes begin appearing everywhere with no explanation and no conceivable motive. Spoilers sweetie!

To try and sum up the plot of this episode, and do justice to everything that happened, briefly and succinctly would be near impossible. A ridiculous amount happened; from the welcome return of Brian Williams (Mark Williams), Rory (Arthur Darvill) actually doing his job whilst Amy (Karen Gillan) hangs out with her friends, then there's the supposed cube invasion which turned out to be an attempt at genocide, the Doctor (Matt Smith) starting to realise his companions are going to leave him, UNIT coming back, a Lethridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) appearing and... well I'm not going to go on, you've probably seen the episode yourself.

Put simply, there was too much happening. As Jen has observed, Doctor Who is very much a victim of its episode run-time and nowhere was that more evident than in The Power of Three. The slow cube invasion was an excellent concept, a true sci-fi gem that could have been utilised to ramp up the tension before the big Steven Birkoff-related reveal. In between, however, we got a stupid amount of time-jumping as the Doctor got bored so swept Amy and Rory away to times gone by. Instead of creating a cohesive storyline, Chris Chibnall's script instead opted for mining the largest amount of jokes and references he could. It was still entertaining, but far too frenetic to become truly invested in.

As such, the reveal that it is the Shakri, a galactic pre-emptive policing system who want to get rid of the human race before they can conquer space, becomes both rushed and slightly anti-climactic. It is left to yet another convenient 'sonic screwdriver solves everything' conclusion, something which I had hopefully thought we'd left behind in the Davies era. Poor Steven Berkoff had barely anything to do except look evil then aggrieved. After the fantastic twist in Asylum of the Daleks or the ridiculously tense climax of A Town Called Mercy, this paled in comparison. It does, however, get points for providing some of the most terrifying facially challenged people since the "where's my mummy" child (Which still haunts me. Bloody Moffat).

Thankfully, despite the many plots, the episode still had an inherent strength and entertainment value because of the performances of the key players. Seeing the Ponds in their two lives added another depth to their characters because, whilst we've always seen companions' families, it is rare that you see their wider social circles. The ever-growing sense of doom surrounding their departure continues this week with Brian questioning the Doctor about his previous companions. His 'just get them back safe' at the end of the episode was practically dripping in dramatic irony. 

As always, Smith remains the strongest performance and he was giving a fair amount of emotional yo-yo-ing to do this week, as well as demonstrating a Doctor at only half his coronary capacity. In amidst all the mania, he still manages to convey the darkness we've been seeing in previous episodes, the anger and the loneliness that never goes away. It's a masterful performance and Smith is further cementing himself as an iconic incarnation of everyone's favourite Time Lord.

For me, this episode has been the weakest of the current run with too much plot, frenetically jumping from one scene to the next whilst trying to cram as many jokes and references in as possible. That being said, it's a testament to the quality of this latest series that The Power of Three was still an enjoyable watch and further confirms that the Ponds' departure is going to be a very sad episode indeed. Both Jen and I will be reviewing The Angels Take Manhattan next week, together, at the same time. Who knows how on Gallifrey that will turn out.

- Becky

You can read Jen's review of A Town Called Mercy here.

Follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea.wordpress.com

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - A Town Called Mercy

Following on from last week’s ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’, Doctor Who provides another cleverly named hour in the form of ‘A Town Called Mercy’, written by Toby Whithouse and continuing with the recent cinematic hints. With a reference to The Jam and the promise of a Stetson or two in the air, coolness points were off the chart from the start as we romp through the third episode in the current series of Doctor Who.

Dodgy American accents were very much ahoy as the Doctor found himself in a small town in the American ‘Wild’ West. A small town in the American West which happens to have electricity just a few years too early, a rather odd looking barrier fence, a resident physician with a face tattoo, a Cyborg gunslinger and a self-destructing spaceship that looks a lot like a Tic-Tac. Obviously.

It started well. It started really well. The Doctor finds himself in spot of bother almost straight away, when he is promptly picked up the townsfolk and kicked out of town Western style. Quite literally, actually, as he is unceremoniously dumped on the other side of the ominous looking perimeter fence. He is met there by a glimpse of a rather shady looking character we will come to know as ‘The Gunslinger’ (Andrew Brooke), an angry Cyborg on a mission. Where are all the nice, relaxed Cyborgs popping down the shops or having some down time in front of the telly I can’t help but wonder?

We then meet the real ‘alien doctor’, Kahler Jex (Adrian Scarborough) and things begin to make sense. Well, as much as they ever do. The Cyborg wants Jex, Marshall Isaac (Ben Browder) wants to protect him, the townspeople want to throw him to the wolf, the Doctor wants everyone to behave themselves, Amy wants to get her own way and Rory presumably just wants to go home. In short, and without giving too much away, The Doctor winds up looking after the town and having to make the decision for everyone.

There’s much to like in this episode. I know I mention this a lot some more absolutely stonking lines of dialogue including a gloriously Milton-esque moment late on in the episode. Amy and Rory are great in an ‘our days are numbered’ sort of way, with the team having clearly cottoned on to the thoroughly shocking fact that girls watch Doctor Who too, providing a healthy handful more Arthur Darvill close ups than usual, and is that a slightly new hairdo? The set was perfect, the lighting was lovely and there were some very well executed and indeed, very cinematic shots. Structurally, it worked well. The epic tone did admittedly at times feel shoe-horned it, but for the first time in a long time you could watch without the creeping sense that the creative team suddenly looked at their watches, found there to be 8 minutes to go and threw in a Cyberman or six to wrap things up. It was the best out and out story the show has produced in a while, with plot twists, morals an Stetsons in all the right places.

The only thing beginning to worry me in all of this, and I suspect it’s because of the Pond Williams focus, but I would like to know what on earth, for want of a better phrase, has happened to The Doctor? It may just be me, but all of a sudden he seems distracted. It’s been apparent since the series opening but in this episode in particular he always seems the last to ask obvious questions, plays with his hat instead of joining in and has wildly different changes of heart from one scene to the next. I’m all for character development, but there’s an uneasiness about this. It may well be intentional, in which case may the Lord High Dalek Prime Minister shoot me down with an electrified egg whisk, but there’s a lack of confidence in his decisions and moods which doesn’t sit quite right.

It was fun, well put together show, but something missed the spot somehow.

To continue with the theme of vaguely space related puns- let’s cross our fingers and watch this space.

- Jen

You can read Becky's review of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship here.

You can read more of Jen's writing here: https://memyselfandtheothers.wordpress.com/

Or you can follow her on twitter here: https://twitter.com/jenniferklarge

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

With possibly the best title since last series' Let's Kill Hitler!, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship finds the Doctor and the Ponds aboard an abandoned craft populated by dinosaurs, with only an Egyptian Queen, a rather bemused member of the Pond Williams family and a Victorian game hunter for help. As always, there be spoilers ahead.

Finding himself propositioned rather strongly by Queen Nefertiti (Riann Steele), the Doctor (Matt Smith) is relieved to be called away to 2367 AD to help Earth out with a hurtling spaceship problem. Earth's authorities declare that they are going to blow up the ship in six hours if the Doctor can't stop it. Nefertiti has come along for the ride and the Doctor decides to enlist a friend, a big game hunter named Ridell (Rupert Graves), and the ever-reliable Ponds (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill), accidentally bringing Rory's father, Brian, along for the ride (Mark Williams).

The first thing that struck me about this episode, apart from the new episode-themed title sequence, was how much fun the cast seemed to be having. Matt Smith has really settled into the role of the Doctor now and the constant mood swings the character experiences are well-handled from his infectious humour to his despair at Solomon's actions (David Bradley). Chris Chibnall's script was packed full with great lines that offered each of the main actors, regular or guest, to shine whilst also offering us a fast-paced narrative that was both well constructed and easy to follow. It was a proper caper episode, from start to finish, and should go down as one of the more enjoyable adventures of the Eleventh Doctor, fitting well into Steven Moffat's new blockbuster mantra.

I've long been a fan of Rupert Graves and his gung-ho Victorian hunter was brilliant from start to finish with his innuendo-ridden chat-up line to Nefertiti providing one of the big laugh-out-loud moments. Also, his ongoing battle with Amy was a real highlight and played well with the actors' chemistry and their different social attitudes. David Bradley made a suitably scenery chewing villain but the most adorable member of the cast had to be his fellow Harry Potter alumnus Mark Williams. Given his very own character arc across the episode, he was both funny and poignant, going from a man who lives a staid life to one who travels the world, the universe and beyond. Williams handled the role perfectly and the shot of him sipping a cup of tea whilst looking at Earth from the TARDIS was a lovely moment.

There was one slight drawback in the proceedings however as the episode was also notable for the appearance of comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb as a tempestuous pair of robots who looked like they had been sourced from The Fifth Element leftovers. Sadly, despite their considerable comedic skills, the pair unfortunately forgot to utilise their funny bones and were let down somewhat by the material they were given. Many of the supposed jokes that the pair came out with fell rather flat and paled in comparison to the considerably more hilarious scenes between Ridell, Nefertiti and Amy. All in all, their appearance was perhaps the only low point of the episode and detracted from the immense fun that was going on elsewhere.

It wasn't all laughs and positivity in the narrative either as the whole episode had an underlying air of doom, from the massacre of the Silurians to the impending departure of the Ponds. With Amy's declaration that the Doctor could be with her to her 'end', there was a rather ominous hint to her potential fate. Whilst my love of Arthur Darvill's Rory is both well-known and unabashed, I've had a rather difficult relationship with Amy throughout her time on the series. Recently though, Karen Gillan has proven herself repeatedly and has completely won me over. After the heartbreaking revelation about the consequences of Demon's Run in the last episode, feisty Amy was back and here, Gillan acquitted herself well, showing how Amy has developed into a competent time-traveller in her own right. I'm going to be extremely sad to see the Ponds go.

A rather worrying trend was beginning to emerge in the Moffat/Smith era of the second episodes in the series being rather, to put it bluntly, crap. Thankfully Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is a riot from start to finish and a great way to continue from the excellent Asylum of the Daleks. Next week sees our heroes hit the Wild West with cyborgs and Matt Smith donning a Stetson. Stetsons are cool.

- Becky

You can read Jen's review of Asylum of the Daleks here.

Follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or find her at her blog: beckygracelea.wordpress.com

TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - Asylum Of The Daleks

It’s back.

Doctor Who time has come around once again. Don’t worry- we’ve utterly no idea of when to expect it anymore, either.

On the plus side, the first episode of the next 5, Asylum of the Daleks, gave an altogether welcome departure from the norm. For starters, we were presented with the Daleks from the get go- in the first five minutes of the first episode, in fact. A lovely change from the usual practice of everybody carrying on in the vague pretence that the Daleks might not appear for six weeks. Look- it’s right there in the title: Daleks. Thankfully, this meant that Writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat could stop worrying about hiding them until the last possible appropriate second and get on with the rest of the show.

And boy did it make a big difference.

The pre-titles sequence jumped straight in, with our beloved hero caught in the trap of a woman/Dalek tragically clueless as to the damage she’s about to cause in asking the Doctor (Matt Smith) to help rescue her daughter from a nearby prison ship. Meanwhile, as they say, back on Earth, a separated Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) are in the process of signing their divorce papers. However it isn’t long before they too find themselves whisked off (apologies) to join The Doctor over on the Good Ship Dalek.

So far, so same old. However we get another tweak to the blueprint here in that this time, the Daleks want The Doctor, their ‘Predator’, to save them. Sure, they’re probably up to no good and have evil ulterior motives, they wouldn’t be Daleks and it wouldn’t be Doctor Who if they didn’t, but to essentially open the show not so much with a character twist but a complete species twist, is undeniably interesting. Add to this the fact that they want to be saved from themselves, from their own insane and defunct kind on the icy hospital planet down below, and you’ve got the makings of a strong episode.

The script’s as sparky as ever, and we know the character formulae well enough now for the actors to have some fun with it. Smith and Darvill consistently perform well, but Gillan in particular stands out here. We’re treated to a competent spot of character development and a rare insight into the realities of life with Rory post Demon’s Run . The slow introduction to Jenna Lousie Coleman’s character was well thought out, too. Fun, flirty and clever, she didn’t reveal too much, but just enough to pique our interest for future episodes. There’s also a classic Whovian ‘focus on a tiny seemingly insignificant detail and then reveal it to be crucially important in the last thirty seconds’ angle, but I won’t give it away here.

If there are criticisms to be had, and regrettably there are a few, they are very much the usual suspects. Doctor Who often falls foul of the length of its time slot, and Asylum is no exception. Overall, it feels every bit the well-crafted show, but the last five minutes are rushed, and we do get the impression that interesting areas for exploration have been dropped or completely ignored. A more thorough investigation into what exactly makes a ‘broken’ Dalek, to pick one example, might have made for an even more engaging episode. It seems ironic to be asking for more time for an episode when talking about Doctor Who, but that's often exactly what it seems in need of.

Other than a slight case of runaway plotline, this was a big idea for the show’s and ground is covered well. For me, Moffat really excels in the stand -alone episodes. They allow him to showcase his best jolting plot twists, and to juxtapose his sharpened dialogue with touching character relationships, without the complications of a narrative arc. Despite Asylum ‘s introduction of several big ideas, as well as a brand new series, this opening episode really does show him at his best with all of the above.

Pun intended, we might be in for a good time here.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00wqr14/Doctor_Who_Series_7_Asylum_of_the_Daleks/


- Jen




  
You can read more of Jen's writing here: https://memyselfandtheothers.wordpress.com
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