DOCTOR WHO No "Apprentice" to Greatness

Article originally published as TV Review: 'Doctor Who' - 'The Magician's Apprentice' at Blogcritics.

O. M. G. That is my reaction to Doctor Who‘s ninth series premiere (of the modern run), “The Magician’s Apprentice,” which aired last night on BBC America. A fan of the franchise, old and new, I’ve had my share of complaints about the series this past year and a half, as regular readers of this column may know. Those complaints are nowhere to be found in this premiere, though, which is excellent! It ties the old Who into the new, answers a very old question, and provides for plenty of surprises, all while posing the most massive moral dilemma that The Doctor has ever faced – and that’s saying something!

First, a quick recap of events. The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) sees a boy trapped by hand mines (which are literally what they sound like). Back to the present, all the airplanes freeze in the sky over Earth. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and UNIT can’t find The Doctor, and so call Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) for help. Clara has no answers, but proposes they solve things on their own, which proves a bit complicated when the problem turns out to be Missy (Michelle Gomez). Nope, The Doctor’s Time Lord foe is not dead, but no time for that now; The Doctor believes he is about to die. Missy and Clara rush to his rescue, and all three fall into a trap laid by Davros (Julian Bleach, last appearing in 2008), the creator of the Daleks. The Daleks execute Missy, Clara, AND the Tardis, and now The Doctor is back with the child, who it turns out is Davros. Can The Doctor murder him and restore everyone he cares about?

That’s a lot, and there’s plenty to dissect. Let’s get started.

First, it is awesome to see Kate again, and I love the idea that UNIT is going to face a crisis on their own. Obviously, they probably do this all the time, but to see them bravely go up against Missy is thrilling. It’s heart-wrenching when they watch her kill two of their men and can’t kill her in return, but it makes sense, she being the key to finding The Doctor, who will likely be needed to save the entire world again in the future. Basically, this whole showdown gives me major thrills, and is moving as it compelling. I want more of UNIT please.

Second, Clara has dropped all pretense of her secret Earth identity. When the planes freeze in the sky, she recruits her class to help investigate. Then, Kate calls her at work, and Clara has no problem telling her boss she needs time off and rushing away, offering no excuses. It has been said in the press that this season finds Clara losing her connection to her planet and identity, and in “The Magician’s Apprentice,” she’s starting already pretty isolated.

Third, I love the idea that Missy, often known as The Master, is The Doctor’s best friend. Companions come and go over the years, but she is constant. They may try to kill one another, but in Missy’s twisted brain, that doesn’t take away from their deep connection. I do want to get back to why Missy is alive and still in this form, but I can wait for a future episode to find out. The current stakes are high enough to ask the audience to wait for an explanation, and witnessing Missy and The Doctor’s interchange is justification enough to bring her back.

Then, we lose Missy, Clara, and the Tardis. I’m not going to lie, I wouldn’t miss Clara if she died here. I’ve made no secret that I don’t like the character, and while it’s not entirely because of her, Doctor Who has been weaker ever since she became the companion (not counting her first appearance and initial Christmas episode). But issues with Clara aside, to make The Doctor bear witness to all this very personal loss is gut-wrenching. Davros could not strike a worse blow against his foe and he knows it. It’s his final offensive before his own death, and it’s super effective.

Getting the bit with the boy, whom The Doctor could rescue but abandons instead, rewrites all of Doctor Who history, in a good way. The Daleks show up extremely early in the original show, and have plagued The Doctor for years. They are the ones that destroy his people (well, with help from The Doctor himself), and they have always been a bit obsessed with The Doctor. Now we know why and it all makes sense. It feels really good to learn something that forces a change in perspective for fifty-plus years of television, and it’s brilliant to bring it up now. Plus, the glimpses of past doctors and a poignant line from Tom Baker’s version make this exchange extremely memorable.

But will The Doctor kill the boy, and what would that mean? The Doctor has been able to bring himself to murder an entire race before, so we know he has the dark capacity to kill. But having to stare a little boy in the face and pull the trigger could be another matter completely, no matter what’s at stake. It’s like asking someone to assassinate Hitler as a youth, great in theory, but hard to carry out in the moment for most of us. The boy hasn’t done anything yet. Can The Doctor really condemn him to death?

And what if The Doctor does kill him? That is the only logical way to bring Missy, Clara, and the Tardis back, the latter of which cannot possibly be left dead. But by slaying young Davros, what will that do to The Doctor’s history? What will it change? There’s no telling ahead of time because of the timey-wimey nature of time travel and this series. It could provider great story fodder for years to come.

“The Magician’s Apprentice” is awesome for all of these things and more. It makes one think, it provides a beautiful character moment for our lead, and it pays tribute to rich history. Doctor Who is an intricate series, with the twelve Doctors all interwoven, and never more so than right now. By beginning the season with such an important, seminal story that means so much, the series has proven it is worth watching again and deserving of its popularity. Waiting a week to see the resolution of this cliffhanger will be challenging, indeed.

Doctor Who airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on BBC America.

DOCTOR WHO Finale Good, Not Great

Article first published as TV Review: 'Doctor Who' - Series Eight Finale on Blogcritics.

The BBC’s Doctor Who has been building to a big finale all season, as per usual. That ending is finally here in the two-part episode “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven.” As expected, this adventure pays off much of the story from not just season eight, but ties itself into past mythology as well, and it almost makes up for the overall-mediocre year. Almost.

In “Dark Water,” The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) takes a devastated Clara (Jenna Coleman) to find her recently deceased boyfriend, Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson). What they stumble into is Missy’s (Michelle Gomez) plot, which involves turning all of the deceased of Earth into Cyberman which she can then use to conquer the planet, or multiple planets. Or just give them to The Doctor, as she does in “Death in Heaven,” to try to repair their friendship, as she’s actually old frenemy The Master reincarnated as a woman.

“Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven” are good episodes because they hit a lot of excellent notes. Any chance to see UNIT is delightful. Clara’s grief over losing Danny is palpable. Danny’s love overcoming the Cyberman programming is very moving. The Doctor finally giving a salute to old friend Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (played for many years by Nicholas Courtney, but seen here only as a Cyberman) is nothing short of amazing, giving long-time fans a much-deserved reward.

The goodbye between The Doctor and Clara is equally good. Neither gets what they want, and they each lie to the other to make it seem like things turned out OK. That’s a hanging thread begging to be explored, and it will be in the upcoming Christmas special. But for now, the scene in which Clara quits her travels, never really saying what she means to say to The Doctor, is terrific enough.

An unresolved mystery, that of where Galifrey is and how The Master found it, or if he/she really did, remains, tantalizing, sure to be picked up in season nine. We know The Master is a liar, of course, but since Galifrey is out there, somewhere, The Doctor needs to find it.

This finale explores the question posed earlier this year as to if The Doctor is a good man. He decides he’s not, but he’s not a bad man either. In doing so, he’s able to let go of some of his hangups and trust Danny Pink, a solider, something The Doctor detests. This is a beautiful, solid conclusion to the subplot, though The Doctor is far from done in his evolution as an individual, nor has he addressed why he now looks the way he does, surely connected to his internal turmoil.

Lastly, it’s no small thing that The Doctor is made President of Earth in “Death in Heaven.” He may not stay in the position full-time, but it means something, and since Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) survived, it will have to be dealt with again. It’s a post The Doctor doesn’t want, but it might be useful to him at some point. How much will he invest in the power and is his term finite?

Now, there are still quite a few holes, though, and that’s why “Dark Water” and “Death in Heaven” continue the trends of this season, rather than making up for them and fixing the series entirely. For one, Missy’s ability to capture the souls of deceased people and then transform their corpses into Cybermen is never adequately explained, nor is how she can control Cybermen in the first place dealt with. I do not understand her plot to win back The Doctor, either. She’s crazy, sure, but there has to be some reason she thinks her plan will work. We don’t know why she puts Clara and The Doctor together, not really. I doubt we’ve seen the last of The Master / Mistress, as Time Lords regenerate, and hopefully future glimpses will explain these things, but this two-parter doesn’t do a good job making itself cohesive here.

I also feel like Osgood’s (Ingrid Oliver) death is quick and cheap. Her presence is a memorable one, and I love how she references older versions of The Doctor in her wardrobe. Killing her should have affected someone and meant something, and instead, it’s just a throw-away moment, scary, but not worth it.

Doctor Who‘s season eight is, overall, the weakest since the show’s reincarnation in 2005. Yet, the season finale has enough wonderful tidbits to prove the magic is not dead, even if it skips over them too quickly instead of giving them the exploration they deserve. A refocus is in order, hopefully without Clara, playing on the strengths still running through the show and minimizing the inconsistencies and stand-alone tales that just don’t work. I’m cautiously optimistic season nine and a new companion can get the show back on track.

Doctor Who will next see a Christmas special on that holiday, and then (reportedly) return to the BBC and BBC America sometime in 2015 for season nine.

3D Blu-ray Review: ‘Doctor Who – The Day of the Doctor’

Article first published as 3D Blu-ray Review: ‘Doctor Who – The Day of the Doctor’ on Blogcritics.

Just a few short weeks ago, fans of Doctor Who were treated to a 50th anniversary special episode entitled “The Day of the Doctor.” The hour-plus-long special found three incarnations of The Doctor coming together to stop a Zygon invasion and face the toughest decision The Doctor ever made – committing the genocide of his own people. Now, that special has arrived in a Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD combo pack.

As the story begins, The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) are called to London by UNIT’s Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) to investigate destruction in a secret gallery. Glass covering paintings has been smashed from the inside, and the figures in those portraits are gone. Before The Doctor can figure anything out, a fissure in space and time opens above him.

Meanwhile, The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) is fending off the advances of his would-be wife, Queen Elizabeth I (Joanna Page, Gavin & Stacey). He knows there are Zygons about, but is having trouble telling the difference between the real monarch and her imposter. The same fissure opens near this Doctor and a fez tumbles out, soon followed by The Eleventh.

Both of these are prompted by a device that appears to The War Doctor (John Hurt) in the form of Bad Wolf (Billie Piper). The machine is the one that The Doctor can use to destroy his race, but it has developed a sentient conscience and wants him to really think through his actions before he goes forward with the plan. Through the fissure, the three Doctors come together.

Any time more than one Doctor occupies a scene, it’s magical. There’s a spirit about the iconic character, no matter who plays him, that is multiplied exponentially when this occurs. Tennant and Smith have absolutely terrific chemistry, and Hurt, playing the part for the first time, feels both similar and different, he being his own unique sort of incarnation, having lived through great battle and strife.

The questions raised and the issues faced are really cool, and with appearances by other extremely familiar faces, including a surprise cameo that is nothing short of stunning, it’s a fitting tribute to the long-running show. For my in-depth review of the special, click here.

This release has a few special features that are pretty neat. Both of the webisodes that serve as prequels, one of them featuring The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) just prior to his regeneration as The War Doctor, are included. There’s a pleasing, but too-short, 13-minute “Making Of,” as well as the full forty-five minute TV special Doctor Who Explained. Also, a fun pack of twelve Doctor Who trading cards, featuring all the Doctors so far, is packaged in, too.

The only thing  lacking, besides a longer behind-the-scenes piece, is The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, a hilarious half hour of the Doctors missing from special itself. To complete your celebration, I highly recommend finding a copy online somewhere and viewing it, as it has not had an official disc release at this time.

The 3D on this disc is a little weird. Both the 3D and 2D blu-ray versions are the same disc, and unlike other 3D releases, the 3D doesn’t come on automatically when popping it into the player. There is no option on the menu itself to turn it on, either, so I switched to 3D the way I would normally do a conversion of a 2D video, through my TV remote.

I admit, it could be my lack of confidence that I was watching the real 3D version, but I felt like the 3D for The Day of the Doctor was a bit weaker than other 3D releases. Parts of the 2D version looked a bit 3D when I originally watched, so well done are the special effects animation. But I can’t say I noticed a really deep, full 3D. It was certainly much better than most conversions I’ve watched, but not as good as the Pixar or Marvel 3D releases I own. I fully admit, my confusion about starting the 3D may have led to my slightly-off experience, and maybe I was trying to study it too hard, but I expect others will face the same challenge. Even if I didn’t access the 3D as intended, though, which I’m still unsure about, it’s a great viewing experience.

That aside, the overall picture is quite clear and the special effects are impressive. It has a sweeping, full score, and the soundtrack is well mixed.  It’s one of the better Blu-ray qualities I’ve seen.

Doctor Who – The Day of the Doctor is available now.

DOCTOR WHO Celebrates "The Day of the Doctor"

Article first published as TV Review: 'Doctor Who' - 'The Day of the Doctor' on Blogcritics.

This Saturday, simulcast in dozens of countries, the BBC’s Doctor Who celebrated 50 years with a special, extra-long episode, “The Day of the Doctor” (also screened at movie theaters around North America in 3D Monday night). The 90-minute feature follows three Doctor incarnations, all on their own missions until circumstances find them meeting and teaming up to stop, not just a couple of immediate alien threats in different time periods, but also a pair of tragic genocides that haunt the titular character to this day.

As “The Day of the Doctor” starts, we are introduced (or re-introduced) to the three Doctors. The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) is fending off the advances of his would-be wife, Queen Elizabeth I (Joanna Page, Gavin & Stacey). The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) is called to London by UNIT to investigate destruction in a secret gallery. And The War Doctor (John Hurt, Merlin, Alien) is facing the moment he will destroy both his greatest enemy, the Daleks, and his own people, the Time Lords, during the war at Gallifrey.

While all of these unfold, it gets a little frustrating. Last spring’s season finale left us waiting for a major event, and instead, we get what appear to be stand-alone tales, especially where the Tenth Doctor is concerned, whose plot seems very fluffy, rather than epic, at the start.

But then it all comes together. The Zygons are attacking Earth in both 1562 and in 2013. They must be stopped. While it would not actually take all three Doctors, plus Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman), the current Doctor’s companion (neither The Tenth nor the War Doctor are traveling with companions at the time of the story), it’s OK that they are pulled together because it provides a nice bit of fun interaction, which then becomes a lot of zany criss-crossing between the eras and locations.

However, The War Doctor brings a much more serious, and at the same time, more personal decision into the mix. Should he massacre two races of people to save the universe? While he wrestles with the decision, he allows himself to be distracted, then seeks counsel from those who live with his choice.

The War Doctor is a new version of the character, only recently introduced, who is quite interesting. In the online prequel to this episode, we see the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) trying to stay out of the war, but realizing he can avoid it no longer. The Doctor is a very peaceful being who only uses violence when necessary and never kills anyone. Though we are told throughout the past eight years that The Doctor did something very, very bad when pushed to the brink, it’s hard to imagine under which circumstances he would do this. “The Day of the Doctor” gives us a small glimpse of what leads up to it, and a longer look at how he wrestles with the decision.

Despite how bad The Doctor feels, haunted by that day, both The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors agree that it was the only choice to make, and are willing to help him make it again, all placing their hands on the button. It’s one thing to have a guy we are just introduced to kill all the innocents; it’s quite another to have two long-running, beloved characters do the same, which lends serious gravity to the situation.

In true Doctor Who fashion, a solution is found, and all thirteen of the Doctors incarnations thus far, including one who will not take over the TARDIS until the Christmas special this year, combine forces and manage to save Gallifrey. This removes one of the worst things The Doctor has ever done, though he still (sort-of) kills all the Daleks, who, to be fair, are evil.

Most of The Doctors are shown through archival footage, well edited into the new film. This sparks musings of what Doctor Who could do in the future, perhaps editing more of the older actors into fresh material as the technology continues to improve, further making it seem like one big adventure of a single character. The Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi), or Thirteenth if we’re counting The War Doctor now, only gets an extreme closeup, providing no clues to what he or his TARDIS will be like when he leads the show next year.

Is it right to reset history in this manner? Presumably, none of The Doctors will remember these events, and so the more recent ones will still have that painful memory that shaped them into something a bit different from the earlier generations. Plus, now we have future story set up for other Doctors to discover: Gallifrey still exists and can be brought back. Gallifrey should be kinder to the outcast this time around, now that The Doctor has saved everyone on the planet.

So, although this takes away something that has made the role very, very interesting, it’s also a bit of a relief that The Doctor doesn’t wipe out his own race. His genius and compassion remain intact, keeping the character very consistent over the past fifty (or twelve hundred, depending on how you count) years already established.

Besides unlocking a major mystery, “The Day of the Doctor” is also notable for bringing back familiar faces in great ways. Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is still running the show at UNIT, and gets involved in the case. Honestly, I’d like to see a return to more UNIT stories and an increased presence from Kate, as it really serves to tie the current Doctor Who back to the older run.

The machine that The War Doctor uses appears to him in the form of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), a former companion of The Ninth and Tenth Doctors. On one hand, it’s sad that she’s only an illusion, with no interaction with The Tenth Doctor. On the other, the character has had a nice send off already, and it would be a shame to force her into the episode if she doesn’t belong. By portraying her in this way, fans get to see her again, but it doesn’t take away from Rose’s own arc.

Queen Elizabeth I’s guest spot, the first for this actress, answers a very slow burn question mentioned a handful of times over several years about her connection to our hero. This is the kind of Easter-egg-resolution that should tickle those who pay close attention to continuity.

Finally, viewers get a glimpse of The Doctor in his retirement. The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker), appropriately aged as the actor playing him is, approaches The Eleventh Doctor in the gallery, revealing he is living peacefully at the end of his life and “revisiting” a few of his favorite faces. This is a brilliant, moving scene, informing on the character, but also providing one of those rare interactions between two incarnations, welcoming back a respected veteran of the part. It’s a real treat that this sequence is included.

In the end, “The Day of the Doctor” provides a satisfying adventure incorporating elements and Doctors both old and new, really delivering something new, exciting, fun, and special to honor five decades on the air. There are enough smile-worthy moments and amusing lines to please just about every fan, and delving into a crucial turning point in The Doctor’s existence, not seen before, gives the installment weight that the Zygon invasion by itself would have lacked.

Doctor Who next airs on Christmas Day, completing The Eleventh Doctor’s tenure.