Are you my mummy?
line of the episode for me.
THIS IS A POST-UK-BROADCAST REVIEW – THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! Brid-Aine says: Finally, someone has remembered that Doctor Who is supposed to be fun and that someone is James Mathieson, guest writer of Mummy on the Orient Express. It has to be said that neither that title nor the trailer last week filled me with great hopes for …
Without Jenna Coleman the series would have been unwatchable, though the blame lies squarely on the writing, the writers seemingly wanting more Soap Opera than Dr Who.
Time to get back to the basics, Dr Who should be battling space aliens and megomaniac bad guys, his side kick is just that, a side kick and expendable and should not be The Story.
It might appeal to the U.S. market but I want the raw Dr Who back not the 'I'm so in touch with my emotions and feminine side' one that we have now.
The rot started with the over emotional Tennant when the bad guy persona of Eccleston was so much better, if you don't believe me ask women who watch Dr Who which one was their favourite?
They all say Tennant, they all love him, he's in touch wih himself, he's nice etc etc. Proof enough that Dr Who is turning into a wuss and the series into mush.
If anything, I think the way to go would be to have half a dozen or so companions. Then kill at least a couple off semi frequently and pick up new ones along the way to replace the others.
Battlestar Galactica got this right. When a major character then was shot (ie Adama at the end of the first series iirc) then when the doctor said that he's critical and might not make it, there was actually some dramatic impact.
With two major characters, neither is going to die and everybody knows it. In this episode I doubt that anybody thought that the Doctor was actually going to die when the Zombie was closing in on him, which reduces the dramatic element to about zero.
I don't get why they feel Dr Who has to be turned into a pseudo rom-com, but her presence is a detriment to every story. I want to watch Sci-Fi with a time traveling alien who uses smarts (and a /bit/ of luck) to fix things than a mopey sidekick who's fretting about having a boyfriend and "oh look, an adventure to distract me, but I'm going to chew my bottom lip until everything is fixed through some odd coincidence of events that being there doesn't really impact much, and I've got to keep making him feel guilty about something"
Capaldi's a great actor but the stories so far have been absolute dross, and Clara being there isn't helping.
I'm wondering, are the stories bad or is Capaldi just not suited to the role? He does a great job of "sarcastic slightly-bonkers irritated bloke", but... look back at previous Doctors. Isn't this going, well, wrong?
As for Clara. Oh my God. She was so great as The Impossible Girl. But now, she's just so....<searches for adjective; can't find one: Abort, Retry, Ignore?>
"As for Clara. Oh my God. She was so great as The Impossible Girl. But now, she's just so....<searches for adjective; can't find one: Abort, Retry, Ignore?>"
How about "incoherent"? Her character simply doesn't make any sense any more. The series needs a script editor who has a grasp of characterisation and can ensure that it's reasonably consistent from writer to writer. Moffet clearly isn't it.
In fact, I suspect that he is actually the problem here, bending Clara's character in preparation for a final "Trial of the Doctor" episode/special where, OMG! Clara has to testify whether he is a "good man" or not. Damn whether it makes sense or not in the context of the character's history.
The new series has suffered repeatedly under "story arcs" that no nothing but interfere with the smooth development of the characters, but this is probably the worst case of it (although I might argue that the execrable "Angels Take Manhattan" and the nonsensical end of Rory and Amy's parts was actually worse, but at least it was over in one truly terrible episode).
I liked this episode but perhaps that's just in comparison with last week's terrible space egg crap.
> The Impossible Girl
Odd how the Impossible Girl story line went OK, probably as it was a strong enough story to paper over the cracks underlying the Clara character. Sassy becomes downright annoying.
Now it's painful. Almost like there's a petulant teenager as a companion. Which is just plain odd as it doesn't suit the new doctor at all. Would work better with a more Donna-like character. Or Frank Skinner!
I think by "Donna-like", you mean "believable". Donna (Catherine Tate) remains one of my favourite characters from the new show, simply because she was written as a character who had real dreams, motivations, worries, and weaknesses.
The Clara character is none of these. There are some episodes where the disposable monster of the week is given more backstory.
Even without the plot-driven personality disorders, the Clara character has never been properly anchored anywhere, physically or emotionally; she's just "generic cute but sassy female supporting character", with no motives, no beliefs, no background, and most importantly, no flaws in that perfect character. Why should I care about this person? - they'll get on fine whether I care or not.
If this were some half-baked fan fiction (and I fear the gap is closing), you could say that she's a Mary Sue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
It kept you guessing.
I guessed wrong, and thought until the end that it was some sort of telepathic parasite. When it was about to kill the professor and he took his glasses off, I was expecting his final words to be a shocked declaration that the mummy was still in focus - thus showing that he wasn't seeing it with his eyes.
I notice the Doctor being very calm and unaffected by the lack of air at the end. Either the writers just wanted to show him still remaining in control under pressure, or they remembered that his alien physiology has already been established as capable of surviving for a short time in vacuum.
The Doctor and Clara carried on a conversation while everyone else around them started to choke immediately (as if all the air in the carriage had outgassed as soon as depressurisation commenced). Only once Clara had spoken two whole sentences did she show any signs of succumbing.
That was the low point for me.
I'm warming to Capaldi as the Doctor. I think he could be a great doctor. But Clara and the stories (which just seem to revolve around Clara in some random way) just let the whole thing down. They need an assistant who isn't some cutesy pretty thing who just adds eye candy and adds no value to the stories about the Doctor (yes, Doctor Who is supposed to be about the Doctor!).
Imagine the fireworks if they had a strong character like Donna with the Capaldi Doctor. Donna acted as the Doctor's moral compass and wasn't afraid to stand up to him. The moral decisions about the moon in the last episode or lying to the woman about to die in this episode? A Donna-like character would have had a field day arguing with the Doctor over them.
The mechanic could also be a great 2nd assistant: Helping the Doctor to maintain the Tardis and help track Gus down too. (Hey, the mechanic could even *BE* Gus!)
Last night's ending was....*sigh*
The writers appeared to have built up to a crescendo: The Tardis was off-limits and the air was being removed from the train. Then the writers realised that they only had 30 seconds of the episode left, so they cut to the end with the Doctor saying: "Yeah, I saved everyone".
A textbook example of an anti-climax.
"No screwdriver was employed."
Not at the end. But it was there earlier in the episode, and (at the time) it appeared to not work very well.
The sonic screwdriver not working right was actually on someone's wishlist round here a week or two back.
Maybe said person knows something we don't...
"A jelly baby last made its appearance in Who under a Thatcher Government."
Yeah Gavin. Thats so correct and utterly makes your review hold up.
The 8th Doctor, under Major's government in 1996 also was partial to Jelly Babies. Lets pretend you know what you are talking about though eh?
Kind of weird that in the last episode the right choice was the ignore the wish of an entire planet and put them all at great risk on the long shot that some unknown giant space birdie wouldn't go full blown toddler on the nearest gravitational well. All because the right choice on TV is always "doing the right thing", like in the moral dilemmas "Could you kill one guy if it was the only way to save a planet." and if you just say no then it will magically work out anyway.* While in this episode the conclusion is: "Sometimes the choices you have are bad ones, and you still have to choose."
It would have made a little sense if at least this was an argument between Clara and the Doctor, but it isn't, he endorsed her choice on the moon. And anyway, I do not think any characters opinion of reality should affect said reality, but in this world it clearly does. Stick to idealism: It works out. Stick to pragmatism: It works out.
Overall a watchable episode though. I just wish the new doctor had some consistency in this new dark persona of his.
*I am so glad TV-writers are not doctors doing triage.
"Kind of weird that in the last episode the right choice was the ignore the wish of an entire planet and put them all at great risk on the long shot that some unknown giant space birdie wouldn't go full blown toddler on the nearest gravitational well."
Not only that, but it looks to me as if the writers are now also re-using plots from the past. Worse yet: the recent past. Because the "impossible choice" was already done in the episode The Beast Below.
An episode I actually enjoyed because of the (small) plot twist. The British nation now lives on a spaceship with a "star whale" below them to drive / power it. Every once in a while they learn about the (ugly) truth of their spaceship (that they're actually torturing a rather magnificent creature) and are given a choice: release the creature or forget all about the issue at hand. And because it is implied that releasing the creature would also mean the destruction of the spaceship the choice is more or less already made.
Until Amy Pond gets to make the decision... again..
Lets see; who was the writer of that episode... Oh right; Steven Moffat again.
I just rewatched the end of series 5 - the Pandorica story - and right at the end, as Amy and Rory, just-married, enter the TARDIS, the phone rings...
And during the conversation the Doctor says "no I get that it's important: an Egyptian godess loose on the Orient Express, in space".
I have to say I sometimes wonder how far in advance "the Moff" plans. Did he have the entire River Song saga in his mind when he wrote Silence in the Library, for example?
Anyway, just thought i'd mention it.
On Gallifreybase (other fandom websites are available) 80% of those contributing to poll (1900 votes) placed it as "8 It's certainly worthy of very high praise!" or better, 90% as "7. Well above average" or better.
I think the 12 giving it the lowest rating "1 I'd rather listen to a tape loop of leaf blower noise" might be the fewest I've seen for that rating recently.
So far, the scripts and casting have been so gaggingly multicultural it has been a distraction. I actually looked up the demographics of England to see if I was missing something. Worse, the lite in Clara's eyes is long gone. She was one of the prettiest girls in the world. Now she's just another young girl with makeup on.
Now you suggest a new writer is going to fix this show? I doubt it, but I'll take a look and see.
Moffat has announced plans to address your concerns. All writers have been informed that future episodes must take place in Midsomer. This will of course mean toning down the explosions but on the other hand the number of deaths per episode can be cranked up in compensation. When asked about the plausibility of having Midsomer invaded by aliens every other episode Moffat's only response was a blank stare.
As well as (if that wasn't enough) all the bad dialogue and bad plotting already discussed at length above, even the simple things aren't being thought through.
For example, as the Doctor and Clara come out of the baggage car, they stop and talk to the train captain bloke. And as they do so, at least two more couples come out through the baggage car door behind them? Where have they come from? And if the answer is "the front part of the train", why the hell is the baggage car in the middle?
As the train 'disguise' is removed and the laboratory revealed, most of the passengers disappear (as they are "hard-light holograms") while the remaining passengers are revealed to be experts brought together to try to solve the case. And none of these experts is expert enough to be able to tell a hologram from a real person? That probably explains why none of them contributed to solving the case of the mummy, only standing meekly and silently in the background whilst the doctor did his thing.
It would have been more appropriate to simply have them as passengers, their lives being the moral blackmail that Gus puts the Doctor under.
And why exactly is the ancient soldier a mummy? Was he supposed to be an ancient Egyptian soldier? Aaaaggh! Bring back the Pyramids of Mars - much better.
"none of these experts is expert enough to be able to tell a hologram from a real person"
you don't think they KNEW, and were just 'playing along' ??? LOL
Have you ever seen 'experts' fighting each other for a solution??? how juvenile.... no they observe, discuss, etc...
if you dont know what they are watching, you must be dumb...
if the 'mummy' looked just a plain soldier, he would be ignored!!!
> "none of these experts is expert enough to be able to tell a hologram from a real person"
> you don't think they KNEW, and were just 'playing along' ??? LOL
Possibly. Would have made a nice plot twist - shame the writer didn't see fit to include it then.
> Have you ever seen 'experts' fighting each other for a solution??? how juvenile.... no they observe, discuss, etc...
Who said they had to fight each other?
> if you dont know what they are watching, you must be dumb...
Well, speechless at least...
> if the 'mummy' looked just a plain soldier, he would be ignored!!!
So, you're saying that the episode needed a gimmick, because a soldier alone wasn't good enough?