Doctor Who: The Power of The Doctor – TV Review

TL;DR – While this episode looks back to the past, I feel it might have the ability to steer the show into the future while also getting to be a romp in its own right.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on ABC iView.

The TARDIS in Space.

Doctor Who Review

When it comes to Doctor Who, well, it is a history of highs and lows. Some of those early memories of the show linger in my consciousness. One look at a gas mask and I get ripped back in time, you walk into an extensive library, and suddenly, there is a hint of concern. But no matter how much I tried, I fell off the recent series. Every time I jump back in, like with Revolution Of The Daleks, I bounce back off again. But with Jodie Whittaker’s time coming to an end, I thought I should give it one more time.   

So to set the scene, we open in as emergency transmission from the Torajii Transport Network blares out across all frequencies because they are about to be hijacked by Cybermen. The guards kill the Cybermen, but when things seem safe, the Cybermen start to regenerate. But the ship’s call for help does not go unanswered as The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yaz (Mandip Gill), and Dan (John Bishop) jump from the TARDIS to help. But things onboard go from bad to worse as the Cybermen are after ‘The Cargo’, and they are not Cybermen but Cybermasters. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Doctor Who: Revolution Of The Daleks – TV Review

TL;DR – This was a perfectly okay episode, but I wish it could have been more than that

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – Watched on ABC IView

Doctor Who: Revolution Of The Daleks. Image Credit: BBC.

Revolution Of The Daleks Review

Well, before we start, I need to be honest with something, I had utterly bounced off Doctor Who. I had liked Jodie Whittaker’s performance, and the characters, but something about the stories that just fell flat for me. I didn’t watch the last season and from the sounds of things that was for the best. I was honestly going to give the New Year’s special a pass, but then they had to go announce that a certain Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) is back, and well if I am not a sucker for things like this.

So to set the scene, in the aftermath of a Dalek attack on Earth, the body of said Dalek is taken away to be stored in deep storage. However, on the way to Depository, 23, the transport driver is incapacitated, and the corpse is stolen. Sometime later the Technology Sectary Jo Patterson (Harriet Walter) meets with disgraced businessman from Arachnids In The UK Jack Robertson (Chris Noth) who has a new crowd control invention, which just so happens to be an AI-controlled Dalek. Meanwhile, 79 billion light-years away The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) is stuck in prison and has been there for a while, just waiting for someone to break her out. From this point onwards we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: Resolution

TL;DR – With the last episode for a year, we get the return of a villain past, and not really a whole lot else, which leads to an interesting if forgettable episode.  

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Doctor Who: Resolution banner with the whole gang. Image Credit: BBC

Review

The debut season for Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall has come and gone, and while I generally enjoyed it, it has been divisive among the fans, and no not just because The Doctor is a woman now (though there are still those people, sigh). The show pretty much used this season as an opportunity as a soft-reboot and a good entry point for new people joining in without years of storylines to catch up on. All of this meant that we got some amazing episodes like Rosa and the Demons of the Punjab but there was also an awful lot of filler and constant use of ‘oh the bad guy is not the actual bad guy.’ All of this lead to many episodes feeling undercooked and the drive to have all new enemies for the series probably didn’t help. Well, today we look at the epilogue for the series and its first ever New Year’s special and see how well it does for the last Doctor Who episode for over a year.   

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Doctor Who: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

TL;DR – While we get more of those character moments that have been the highlights of the season so far, it just does not quite come together in the end.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Doctor Who: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos. Image Credit: BBC

As we reach the end of the 11th season of the new Doctor Who we have had the highs of Rosa (see review) and Demons of the Punjab (see review) but also the feeling that at times the show just was not quite coming together. It is with this duality that we hit the end of the shorter season than normal and you have to wonder will they stick the landing, and I’m not sure that they did. 

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TV Review – Doctor Who: It Takes You Away

TL;DR – A very odd episode filled with 80s Technicolor, monsters in the woods, talking frogs, and a sheep rebellion. It didn’t quite get therein the end, but it did have some interesting moments.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Doctor Who: It Takes You Away looking over a Fjord.  Image Credit: BBC

Review

We are almost at the end of the 11th Season and Jodie Whittaker’s first as The Doctor. When you have a penultimate episode, sometimes you want to use it to give your audience a breather before the end, sometimes you want to build tension for the final episode. Today we went in a completely opposite direction by instead doubling down on the weird that can be Doctor Who, and boy is this a weird one.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: The Witchfinders

TL;DR – Well this is an odd one indeed, and while it is looking at an important issue, it just feels like it never really all clicked together.   

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Doctor Who - the Witchfinders. Image Credit BBC

Review

Throughout history, there have been numerous times when the people living in villagers have needed a scapegoat for their current woes, and often times that scapegoat has been any women of note in the town. Now, of course, the most well know, though not well understood, occurrence of these witch trails was in Salem, Massachusetts in the US, they also happened across the world (and still happen today), and in tonight’s Doctor Who, we look at England’s past. However,while this setting should feel right up The Doctor’s (Jodie Whittaker) ally,something just does not quite work.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: Kerblam!

TL;DR Kerblam! Is a return to a more classic Doctor Who episode filled with conspiracy, murder, missing people and a call for help, oh and also a fez, can’t forget a good fez.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

Kerblam! Image Credit: BBC

 

Review

There has been a lot of discussion regarding this season of Doctor Who and while I have really been enjoying it, there are others where Chris Chibnall’s writing style is just not jelling with them, which is perfectly fair. What will be interesting to see is how people engage with the show in the back half of the season because now all the shows have different writers. We saw that last week with the Demons of the Punjab (see review) where the show talked a deeply problematic time from Brittan’s past with grace, and this week we have a different take as we delve into what I would consider being a more classic Doctor Who episode where conspiracy runs rampant.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: Demons of the Punjab

TL;DR – In the battle between love and hate, on which side would you be on? This is the question today’s episode asks before emotionally punching you in the gut.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

 

Doctor Who: Demons Of The Punjab. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review

When I heard Doctor Who was going to set an episode in colonial India, you can bet I was deeply concerned. A British TV Show doing an episode on the British occupation of another country, it is a recipe for disaster if handled wrongly, and the title Demons of the Punjab didn’t exactly fill me with confidence either. However, then we got to see Rosa (see review) earlier this season all about Rosa Parks and her struggles, they showed a real understanding of exploring deeply complex historical events, so I had a hope that they would be able to here as well, and I honestly think they pulled it off.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum

TL;DR –  A deeply emotional episode that using the entire ensemble to their best, a truly wonderful episode of Doctor Who

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review

This season we have had the highs of Rosa (see review) but also a lot of awkwardness in the construction of episodes, like the show is exploring how to make it all work. Well, this week we see it all come together when you have the emotional weight as well as the tight construction and flow of the episode, that also allows each member of the ensemble a moment to shine.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: Arachnids In The UK

TL;DR –  If you have a deep-seated fear of spiders, well this might be one of those hide behind the coach kind of episodes for you.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

Doctor Who: Arachnids In The UK. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review

Today we continue looking at Doctor Who’s 11th season, a season with a lot of promise but also some recurring issues. This has created a bit of a problem that you see all the good they are trying to do, but also how they are being held back for some odd reasons. Well, today we come crashing back to Earth for a creepy episode just in time for Halloween that is going back to a Doctor Who staples, monsters, running, and the failure of capitalism, oh my.

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