Episode #268 - The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion

"This is a scale model of war! Every war ever fought, right there in front of you! Because it's always the same! When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning: Sit — down — and — talk!"

Episode #268:      The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion.

Companions:        The 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Air Date:             31st October to 7th November 2015.

A long time ago, the Doctor made a deal in the Tower of London. 20 million Zygons walk among us, in human form, living undetected in peace and harmony. But cracks are showing in this delicate peace. Humans and Zygons are disappearing. In city apartment blocks, lifts are going missing, and far below the streets of Britain, alien pods are growing in secret caverns. To top it all off, UNIT's scientific advisor, Osgood, sends a desperate message to the Doctor - but since Osgood is long dead, how is that even possible?

This is a two part story with which I have a bit of a love hate relationship and I find it hard to balance that out. On one hand I enjoy the general storyline and The Zygon Inversion has one of my favourite new series Doctor's speeches ever. But on the other hand I find the story itself somewhat weak and I find I strongly dislike how the story changes the nature of the Zygons. They go from a race of conquering invaders in previous stories to being happy citizens and then the story provides us with a weakly added "teenage" separatist group which is never really explained. Something about it ruins the Zygons for me. Maybe because The Terror of the Zygons was such a childhood favourite story of mine, and so far the best adventure featuring them.

As I say the story is fairly weak, especially The Zygon Invasion. It jumps about and never gives us anything to really get our teeth into. The Zygon Inversion does better but does so with much more emphasis on the Doctor's dialogue and how he pushes the situation to make everyone see reason. But it isn't enough to fully save the story.

The adventure has some nice moments. The Clara/Zygella dynamic is good, and the Osgoods always make me smile (she's a Who geek just like the rest of us). If you pay attention there are some nice throwbacks to the classic era but blink and you'll miss them. I always enjoy it when the show drops something in for us fans of the classic show.

Ultimately I think this was a nice try in bringing the Zygons back but I don't feel that the writers were able to come up with a suitable continuation for them after the events of The Day of the Doctor. A much better idea, in my opinion, would have been a story set in space on a station or starship where the Zygons were intruders pretending to be crew. A murder mystery in space maybe? I would love to see that as a Zygon story in the future.

This two part story unfortunately is just subpar for what I expect from the show. 2 out of 5. Could have been better.

Episode #264: The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar

 

"There's no such thing as the Doctor. I’m just a bloke in a box telling stories. I didn’t come here because I'm ashamed. A bit of shame never hurt anyone. I came… because you're sick and you asked. And because sometimes, on a good day, if I try very hard… I’m not some old Time Lord who ran away. I'm the Doctor."

Episode #264:      The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar.

Companions:        The 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Air Date:              19th to 26th September 2015.

The serpentine Colony Sarff has searched the entire universe for the Doctor, to give him the final message of Davros; however, the Time Lord is nowhere to be found. This is quite serious, as not even the Doctor's closest frenemy, Missy, is able to find him. Adding onto this is the fact she was given his Confession dial, which in human terms is the last will and testament of the Doctor.

This is an awkward story. Simply put it is a weird jumble of ideas. Aircraft across the world freeze in mid-flight. It's all a ruse by Missy to lure out Clara, so that they can go hunting for the Doctor as Missy has his last will and testament in the form of a confession disc. At the same time a weird alien made up of snakes who works for Davros (didn't he and his creations hate all things not Dalek before this?) is also looking for the Doctor because Davros is on his last legs. When they finally get together it's nothing part running through corridors/Dalek sewers and lengthy not so well written exposition between the Doctor and Davros. The plot is exposed, the Daleks defeated and everyone more or less escapes.

I could take this as a not so great episode but for a couple scenes where we almost get a jump the shark moment (look the phrase up if you haven't heard it before). The lesser one is this weird idea that Daleks cannot ever die and instead continue living as a form of conscious poop in the sewers of Skaro. What? Who let this idea through in the writing department? Seriously. The main one for me is part of the initial meeting of out characters somewhere in medieval England where the Doctor enters the room riding a modern day tank and playing the electric guitar. Again... what? For a television show about time travel, possibilities and occasionally the absurd, this for me broke the verisimilitude of the show. Why would the Doctor do anything like that? Surely that breaks the time travellers rules of messing up the timeline. Especially as they get left behind in medieval England. It spoils the whole first episode for me.

The story as such isn't all that interesting either and doesn't really set up anything with the Doctor or Davros since then, until the time of writing this. It's just a set up for the introduction of two new themes - the confession disc and legends of a half Dalek/half Time Lord hybrid. There have been some good series themes in New Who since it appeared on our screens but this one as it plays out in seasons to come is not one of the best.

More positively, it is good to see Davros back again although there is no explanation has to how he survived the prior encounter during the episode Journey's End". Who villains have survived many times before so that is fine by me. The story does have some nice revelations about Davros and his past, and potentially his inner workings during this two part story and it is probably the only bit of good exposition we get.

I have to be honest and just say that from here on, New Who does take a lengthy dip. Up until where we are with the show at the time of writing this (January 2021) the show has lost something crucial. The stories just aren't as good generally and the show really needs a true fan of the classic era to take over as executive producers and show runners. The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar could have been so much better. 

Episode #262 : Dark Water / Death in Heaven

"I am not a good man! And I'm not a bad man either. I'm not a hero. I'm definitely not a president, and no, I'm not an officer. You know who I am? I… am… an idiot! With a box and a screwdriver. Passing through. Helping out. Learning. I don't need an army. I never have. Because I've got them, always them, because love is not an emotion. Love is a promise, and he will never hurt her."

Episode #262:      Dark Water / Death in Heaven
Companions:        The 12th Doctor and Clara Oswald.

Air Date:              1st to 8th November 2014.

In the mysterious world of the Nethersphere, plans have been drawn up. Missy is about to come face to face with the Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming. "Death is not an end," promises the sinister organisation known only as 3W – but, as the Doctor and Clara discover, you might wish it was.

When Danny Pink is killed by a hit and run driver, he is pulled into the afterlife of the Nethersphere and Clara will do anything to get the Doctor to save him. A basic premise to this end of season two part story but which soon blossoms into a much larger and stranger story.

First things first, the way Danny is bumped off, off screen feels like a wasted opportunity, not unlike this character throughout this season. Danny Pink had the potential of being a different sort of companion who could have been introduced through the series until the Doctor comes to terms with his past as a soldier and being Clara's love interest. He has a part to play through this particular story but I can't help but feel it was a wasted effort. His final death leaves a potential hole in the series though considering his descendent Orson Pink who appeared in the episode Listen. However,  Steven Moffat has stated that one possible explanation is that Orson was a lateral descendant of Danny's. According to this theory, Clara contacted Danny's relatives after his death and told them of his sacrifice.

Ultimately with this story I have come to dislike the character of Danny and it is simply down to his dislike of the Doctor. The confrontation between cyber-Danny and the Doctor does it all. The Doctor is a hero (even if he says he isn't) and he has his faults but Danny's dislike is beyond the pale.

Next we have Missy, the background villain of the series and the source of the "lady in the shop" who originally gave Clara the phone number of the TARDIS way back in The Bells of Saint John. Missy is here explained to be the new regeneration of The Master. Now I am not a fan of the regeneration gender swap concept, but I must admit that I do love Missy. The weird and quirky female persona quickly grew on me. Michelle Gomez takes the role and makes it her own. Although a bit strange I do love this incarnation of the long running villain.

It is the Cybermen in this story that spoil it for me. It seems that they can't be left alone and instead it seems in every new episode they get an "upgrade". Flying cybermen now and it is just ludicrous. However, the cool scenes of them climbing from their graves is very reminiscent of various zombie movies and is suitably creepy. The story gets a thumbs up for that but could we not just have classic cybermen again?

One last topic I want to speak on is the appearance of cyber-Brigadier. While this was a nice send off perhaps it feels unnecessary. We already had this in a sweet moment from The Wedding of River Song.

Like a lot of new Who it is a rather silly story when you stop to think about it. Exactly what was Missy's plan? Where did she get the cybermen from? Why did they have to fly? Had Missy been collecting dying minds for over a hundred years in real time? I really want the writers and producers to sit down and look at the stories that made classic Doctor Who work so well and try to incorporate those elements into the show. Maybe things wouldn't be so odd and the show might appeal more to both classic and new fans.

Episode #237 : The Power of Three

"I'm not running away. But this is one corner of one country on one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond, and there is so much, so much, to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things, I am running to them. Before they flare and fade forever. And it's alright. Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon, maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while."

Episode #237:      The Power of Three.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
Air Date:               22nd September 2012.

There have been many ways to invade the Earth, and the Eleventh Doctor has seen them all – or so he always thought. And then the human race wakes up one morning and discovers the world has been overrun by small cubes, which then proceed to do nothing at all. A plan is afoot, humanity is endangered – but by what and how and, above all, when? Thus begins the Year of the Slow Invasion. For the first time in his world-saving career the Doctor has to call upon one of the least of his virtues: patience. And the Ponds face something possibly more terrifying than any world-ending apocalypse: the Doctor is moving in!

After a good start to the season we once again hit that wall where we get a real duff episode. The Power of Three is quite frankly one of the most boring and dull stories that I've watched for Doctor Who. We sit through probably half an hour of nothing really happening, some laughs as the Doctor tries to not be bored, then a sudden rush of action and a potentially creepy villain from Time Lord fairy tales before... it just ends. No explanation for why the Shakri want to eradicate mankind what so ever. I might have given this bonus points had the Shakri ever reappeared, perhaps as the villain at the end of the season but they have to this date never even so much as be mentioned. It just leaves a really bad negative feeling in me now just as it did when the episode first aired.

About the only good elements are the exposition and the introduction of Kate Stewart. The conversation between the Doctor and Brian mirrors that between the 10th Doctor and Wilfred Mott about what happens to companions who travel with the Doctor. The other main quote is the one I use above which explains again, for those not listening across the series or are new viewers, why the Doctor does what he does. He needs companions to keep him going and see the universe but he can't watch them fade and die. Even he must move on and leave what he loves behind. It may sound melodramatic but I believe it is easy to forget that about his character.

Kate Stewart, our new occasionally recurrent side character, is the daughter of the Doctor's old friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and she has taken over UNIT, making it into the force it is for the 21st century. I suppose after it and the Earth have been decimated so many times in the last decade that someone had to. She is a strong feisty character and one, who much like the Doctor, we will learn has a darker side.

Even so, these do not help save an episode that was quite frankly ill thought out and boring. If you liked this story I would love to see your reason in the comments.