DOCTOR WHO Season 10 Premiere Event

Article first published as TV Review: 'Doctor Who' Season Ten Live Premiere Event on Blogcritics.

With assistance from Nick Arganbright

Doctor Who is back for the 10th (!) season premiere, and Fathom Events recently made sure it was done with style. Hosting screenings across the country, Fathom presented the Who franchise’s latest installment on the big screen, with some cool extras. I was lucky enough to attend one such gathering (thanks Fathom!) this week.

Things kicked off with some Doctor Who trivia, which is an enjoyable way to begin. The questions were light and fun, and called to mind fan-favorite Doctors and occurrences from the recent past.
After that, the pilot for Class, the new Doctor Who spin-off, was presented. Fans have been eager for an expansion of the world since the end of Torchwood, and anticipation was high for the new series. Unfortunately, while there are some interesting concepts, and I personally couldn’t get enough of Katherine Kelly’s Miss Quill, Class fails to ignite interest right from the start. It may grow into itself,  but episode one isn’t one that will instantly hook itself a new batch of viewers.

Class presents a diverse group of high school students who end up having to battle aliens and monsters from another realm while attending Coal Hill Academy. Coal Hill is an institution periodically seen in Doctor Who from the beginning, most recently as companion Clara’s place of employment. One of the students in the cast is even an alien himself, the last of his kind hiding on Earth, and I think the idea is a relatively solid one. But the presentation feels artificial, the characters gelling together in a way that doesn’t come across as natural. It’s like the formula for popular young adult shows has been co-opted in an effort to bring in ratings, but they’re trying too hard.

Still, that is only episode one. It may yet grow into itself.

After Class, we got a lovely short about Pearl Mackie “becoming the companion.” Pearl plays the Doctor’s newest traveling buddy, a young, gay, African-American woman named Bill. She (the actress) is charming, and the bonus segment flowed nicely, introducing us to her and getting us psyched up for the episode that followed. I never liked Clara all that much, so am very excited that the new cast member is as instantly likeable as she is.

The Doctor Who 10th season premiere itself does not disappoint in the slightest. It has the whimsical sense of adventure that the best Who episodes do, a genuinely scary villain, real mystery, and not only is new companion Bill magnetic and awesome, but the very amusing Nardole (Matt Lucas) returns as well, presumably to stay for awhile. Plus, a cameo by The Doctor’s most serious foe! What more could anyone want?

The first regular episode in more than fifteen months, we catch up with The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) working as a professor. He meets cafeteria worker Bill (Mackie) when she finds a sentient puddle, whom The Doctor assumes has come to take something from a vault he’s guarding. A girl is killed, and the TARDIS races through the universe and time stream to try to gauge the range of the creature and find a solution to the threat it poses. (The vault, presumably, is a teaser for a future hour.) The episode is called “The Pilot,” which seems tongue-in-cheek for what is essentially yet another reboot of the long-running franchise. I really have no complaints at all about the hour.

I am very grateful that Doctor Who was shown after Class, the opposite of broadcast order on BBC America, where they are currently paired up (though Class aired last year in the UK). Had the spin-off come second, it is quite possible people would be let down. Instead, it’s a light, not terrible, but somewhat flimsy opening act for a stellar main attraction. With Capaldi’s Doctor making a brief cameo in Class, anticipation builds appropriately, and I felt the whole night was very well organized.

In all, I enjoyed Fathom Events, well, event, and I hope they do it again soon. Doctor Who looks fantastic on the big screen, and with the way it all came together, the inclusions that were part of the night, I had a good time and I think others did, too. The only drawback was that attendance was sparse, perhaps because it came a couple of days after the television airing of the premiere, but I would recommend to lovers of the series to go out to the next one. You’ll probably be glad you did.

Not Much CLASS

Article first published as TV Review: CLASS on Seat42F.

BBC’s Doctor Who has had a couple of spin-offs, but none are currently running. Given how infrequent new installments of the parent show are, it’s almost always welcome when there’s some continuation or extension set in that world to fill in the gaps. The newest series, though, at least in America, doesn’t come in the off-season, but instead will air in parallel with new Doctor Who, beginning this weekend.

Called CLASS, the show tells the story of four students and a teacher at the infamous Coal Hill Academy. Renovated and fancied up since the last time we saw it, the school having been periodically featured in the series since the beginning, most recently as Clara’s workplace, this allows both a familiar and fresh setting for the new show.

The ensemble is as diverse as it can be in the British school-limited setting, with multiple races and sexual preferences represented in the five-member troupe. There’s: Ram (Fady Elsayed, My Brother the Devil), who dreams of being a football (soccer to us Americans) star; April (Sophie Hopkins, Brackenmore), the mild-mannered nerd who helps care for her mother; Tanya (Vivian Oparah), a Nigerian prodigy; and Charlie (Greg Austin, Mr. Selfridge), an alien price, the last of his race, who has a crush on a Polish boy, Matteusz (Jordan Renzo). They are watched over by Miss Quill (Katherine Kelly, Coronation Street, Mr. Selfridge), also alien, also last of her race, enslaved to protect Charlie.

So yes, the character descriptions give you a bit of the ongoing plot right away. With two extraterrestrials hiding out and trying to keep their races from going extinct, any number of baddies will come to the school looking for them. Then again, that institution has always attracted more than its fair share of trouble, with a body count well above average. So multiple elements converge on a place that is sure to see exciting things happen on a regular basis.

I do admit, I found CLASS a little hard to access at first. The core group seems so different from one another, and it feels weird to see them all drawn together artificially early, not by the monster, but prior to that. It was especially bizarre when they all sat next to one another in class. I think most shows would have circumstance bond them, or focus on an already solidified friend group, but CLASS tries something different, and I’m not sure it quite works. Or maybe I’m applying an American cultural filter to a British series; I’m just not sure.

The first episode itself is interesting, setting things up nicely, while still having an urgent plot driving it as well. There are some fun references, such as when the school is said to be essentially sitting on a Hellmouth. The problem with that is, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of the best shows of all time, and inviting comparison is risky. The saving grace is that Buffy didn’t have a strong first season, so it also asks viewers to give CLASS a chance if it doesn’t immediately hook them.

The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) makes his inevitable cameo, as we know he must, but I found it a disappointing one. Not in of itself, as I loved seeing him, as it fits into the whole. CLASS is trying to set itself and its heroes up, and having The Doctor burst in at a key moment feels like cheating, robbing the protagonists of their chance to really stand up for themselves. We do get some other opportunities to see the cast in action, and The Doctor does provide some welcome wisdom. But it still didn’t feel quite right.

I like CLASS. It has a talented ensemble, and I cannot get enough of Kelly as Quill. But it doesn’t have the charm of Doctor Who (except when The Doctor is present), and it struggles to find its own identity in episode one. It isn’t as instantly gripping as Torchwood, a prior spin-off. With seven more episodes in this run, we’ll see if it develops into something worthwhile, or sputters out.