Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Hell Bent Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Hell Bent
By Steven Moffat

“You said memories become stories when we forget them. Maybe some of them become songs.”

The Clara Who series 9 finale err, wait a minute, The Doctor Who series 9 finale Hell Bent has to go down as one of the better Moffat finales, but far from great, since the show came back onto our TV screens back in 2005.  One of the faults and there are many of Steven Moffat is his inability to give us a properly written series finale without going for the big production of bringing back tons of characters including the kitchen sink.   This time he bridges the series finale along through three stories to give us a story that wraps up the Clara era pretty well which we all thought was done two weeks ago in Face the Raven.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Heaven Sent Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Heaven Sent
By Steven Moffat

“I am The Doctor. I’m coming to find you and I’ll never ever stop.”

After the emotional story Face the Raven we are given a story that is absolutely different and something we haven’t seen in Doctor Who for some time, A companionless story. Well this story could be called Doctor Who meets Groundhogs Day because that’s how it felt towards the end when it became repetitive and dragged out a bit too long watching him punch the diamond wall over and over again.   The normal 45 minutes would have sufficed and some of the Groundhog Day sequences could have been cut down a bit.  That’s my opinion and it seems I’m in the minority here as lots of thought it was great.  But I did get what they were doing and what tale they were referencing if you Google How Long is Eternity?  you’ll have the source for why The Doctor was  punching the diamond and why it took 2 million years which was pretty clever in a way but I still thought that it was way to reminiscent of Groundhog Day instead of a fable but the fable is where it comes from.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Face the Raven Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Face the Raven
By Sarah Dollard

“Let me be brave.”

Well they finally did something that I didn’t think they had the courage to do.  Even though the clues were there with Clara being so reckless I didn’t think Steven Moffat would actually go ahead and kill of Clara.  Yes he has killed a version of Clara before but this is was the death of an actual companion since 1982’s Earthshock.   Since Adric’s death came as a surprise and no one knew what was coming as social network did not exist back then there were a lot of rumors that Clara would meet her demise.  I have to say they kept the secret pretty good and most fans did not realize that it would be in episode 10.  There were leaks about her leaving and it was spoiled on radio and on some sites but most did not know that she would be killed off.   But the clues were there and I was one to put two and two together.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Sleep No More Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Sleep No More
By Mark Gatiss

“You must not watch this.”

I can say I’m not a big fan of found footage movies or television shows.  I hated the Blair Witch Project and wasn’t that fond of Cloverfield either.  So when I heard they were doing a found footage episode of Doctor Who I had big reservations about it.  Would it be good and would the scenes be jumping all over the place was one of my concerns but not that much of a worry as to who was writing it.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - The Zygon Inversion Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
The Zygon Inversion
By Peter Harness and Steven
Moffat

“Five rounds rapid.”

The Zygon Inversion continues with the Zygon rebellion as we find out how The Doctor escapes from his plane being blown up by an air to ground missile and what evil Clara really is up to.  I have to say I wasn’t expecting the solution to plane destruction. Well not the jumping out of the plane with parachutes but the fact that Clara was able to manipulate Bonnie and make her miss with the first missile but was not successful stopping the second which gave The Doctor and Osgood the chance to escape.  Now this was an interesting turn of events and made the story a lot more interesting as we had the two Clara’s going back and forth with a mental struggle.  I enjoyed the banter between Bonnie and Clara and I am really enjoying watching Jenna Coleman playing a villain also as it really added to the tension that this story was conveying.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - The Zygon Invasion Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
The Zygon Invasion 
By Peter Harness

“We want the world.”

If you haven’t guessed by now The Zygon’s came back in 2015 and I was really happy for their return.  Since the 1975 Tom Baker story Terror of the Zygons I have always wanted to see The Zygons return and after they appeared in The Day of the Doctor I had a feeling we would see them as they would want to use those expensive costumes again.  What I didn’t expect and what has turned out to be a pretty good idea is that The Zygon Invasion is a loosely based sequel to the 50th Anniversary story as it builds upon the peace treaty between The Zygons and the humans.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - The Girl Who Died Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
The Girl Who Died
By Steve Mathieson
And Steven Moffat

“I am The Doctor and I save people. And if anyone happens to be listening and you’ve got any kind of problem with that.  To hell with you!”

The Girl Who Died had a lot of buzz going in mainly to see who Maisie Williams would be playing.  Back in the summer was the Doctor Who Series 9 trailer and at the end Maisie Williams said this to Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor, ‘What took you so long old man?”  Now that made the interwebs abuzz with speculation that she was playing Romana, The Rani, Susan and Jenny.  I myself was hoping for the Terrible Zodin as some thought it was a younger Missy.  Guess what?  You’re all wrong as she is playing an original character.  Leave it to Steven Moffat to prop up an episode that in all fairness is not that good.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Before the Flood Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Before the Flood
By Toby Whitehouse

“Clara, I want to talk to my ghost self.”

The problem with two part stories in the new version of Doctor Who is that the second part for the most part has been disappointing or at the very least pretty mediocre and has not delivered on the excitement from the first part that got you all jazzed up for the conclusion.  So far in the Capaldi era the two parters have been mixed with the mediocre Dark Water/ Death in Heaven to the very well done The Magician’s Apprentice/ The Witch’s Familiar.  Before the Flood has the hard task of following the really good Under the Lake and despite not being quite as good as its lead up episode it wasn’t bad at all and was pretty entertaining.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Under the Lake Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Under the Lake
By Toby Whitehouse

“Who wants to catch a ghost?”

Series 9 rolls along with Under the Lake.  Under the Lake is part one of a two part story this time by Toby Whitehouse.  He has written for the show before giving us stories like School Reunion, The God Complex and a few others but he is mostly known for the British and original version of Being Human.   Under the Lake is his first story for the 12th Doctor and by the next time trailer it looked really good.  I had high hopes for this story after watching the trailer as Doctor Who never really dealt with ghosts before, well, not in the traditional way.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - The Witch's Familiar Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
The Witch’s Familiar
By Steven Moffat

“You are not a good Doctor.”

In Steven Moffat’s recent history his second part of two part episodes has failed to deliver. He does really well setting everything up in part one and giving us a cliffhanger to talk over during the week but when we get the conclusion we are scratching our heads going that was it.  Yes, I have not been a fan of Steven Moffat’s two part stories lately as I thought Series 8 series ender was ok and better than normal but other than that he hasn’t done well with the second part since The Doctor Dances back in 2005’s Series 1.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - The Magician’s Apprentice Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
The Magician’s Apprentice 
By Steven Moffat

“Davros knows. Davros remembers.”

After months of speculation and rumors since Series 8 has ended The Magician’s Apprentice has arrived and series nine has now begun in earnest.  The episode opens up with a child who happens to have wandered into an area where there are hand mines and is trapped and can’t get out.   The Doctor soon appears and tries to help the child from the trap until he learns the name of the child.  He then leaves the child to his fate and leaves in the TARDIS.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Last Christmas Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Last Christmas
By Steven Moffat

“Santa Claus does not do the scientific explanation.”

It’s Christmas and everyone is gathering together with friends and family to celebrate the festive holiday either for religious beliefs or not.  But most of all a huge number of people around the world celebrate Christmas with something altogether different in mind and that would be the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special.  At the time this is the 10th year in a row that Doctor Who fans will be watching a Doctor Who episode on Christmas day and this time will be treated to the first one with Peter Capaldi as The Doctor.   Last Christmas is also boasting a unique meet up between The Doctor and a certain resident of the North Pole.  But was it good as a Christmas pudding or will it be a Scrooge and give us a humbug.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Death in Heaven Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Death in Heaven
By Steven Moffat

“You Win.”

After the big reveal in Dark Water that Missy was The Master we are now onto the second part of the series 8 finale.  Usually the second part of the series finales or series finales in general have fallen short and not delivered on the hype built up by the first part.   Doctor Who has been a good example of this most recently with The Wedding of River Song which was not all that good.  It seems in NuWho that the show runners like to go for the big gusto and try to cram a lot of stuff into the finales and that has always hurt the story for the most part even if the newer fans go crazy for it.  So did Death in Heaven fall into the disappointing category?

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Dark Water Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Dark Water
By Steven Moffat

“Upload the mind. Upgrade the body.”

The series 8 Finale titled Dark Water was the story that would reveal who Missy is and there was a lot of speculation on who she was.  Even though she ended up as The Master it was one of the three I had guessed it would be.  At the time I didn’t think Steven Moffat would go in that direction.  But he did and now we know who Missy is and that did set up a lot of speculation until we saw Death in Heaven the following week.

Farewell to 12 - Doctor Who - In the Forest of the Night Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
In the Forest of the Night
By Frank Cottrell Boyce

“This is my world too. I walk your Earth. I breathe your air.”

In the Forest of the Night sounds like a title to a fairytale more than it does for Doctor Who story.  But then again that was more or less the gist of the story as it was full of fairytale references.  From Little Red Riding Hood to Handsel and Gretel In the Forest of the Night was one big fairytale.   It was a very different story with all the trees that had sprung up over London and the world for that matter and that was another fairytale reference in itself as forests are supposed to be dark and scary and the one that The Doctor was in was just that.   It was full of wolves and tigers and seemed to have over grown all of London and The Doctor had to find Maebh, who herself was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, who had wandered off into the forest and seemed to be the only one that knew what was going on.  Like I said it was a different story.

Farewell to 12 - Doctor Who - Flatline Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Flatline
By
Jamie Mathieson

"I don't know whether you're here to invade, infiltrate, or just replace us. I don't suppose it really matters now. You are monsters! That is the role you seem determined to play. So it seems that I must play mine: The man that stops the monsters."

When Steven Moffat told writer of Kill the Moon Peter Harness to Hinchcliffe the $#@% out of it I don’t think he meant that one story but I believe he meant Series 8 in general.  In fact Flatline is the closest a new Who story has come to achieving this and it would make Robert Holmes smile.  I’m sure he is smiling from heaven as Jamie Mathieson has so far been able to replicate his style of horror in Doctor Who.

Farewell to 12 - Doctor Who - Kill the Moon Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Kill the Moon
By Peter Harness

“Get back in your lonely bloody TARDIS and you don’t come back!”

Kill the Moon is here and if you go from the trailer it looked like it was supposed to be really scary.  Behind the sofa kind of scary that makes you scream out in fright.  Steven Moffat was quoted as saying to writer Peter Harness to “Hinchcliffe the $#@% out of it.”   That gave me some hope for this episode as I really enjoyed the Philip Hinchcliffe era of Doctor Who with its Gothic horror and smart storytelling.  Let’s face it. After the two light hearted stories we have had lately it was time to get the scares back into the show.   So bring on the scares and give people nightmares as I’m ready for a scary one.

Farewell to 12 - Doctor Who - The Caretaker Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
The Caretaker
By Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat

“Well you’ve explained me to him but you haven’t explained him to me.”

Gareth Roberts who wrote the 11th Doctor stories The Lodger and Closing Time returns and gives us his first 12th Doctor story The Caretaker.  I enjoyed Gareth Roberts 11th Doctor stories with Craig as they were fun to watch and had a bit of comedy to them.  Not too much comedy and the stories were usually pretty good with The Lodger being the stronger of the two stories.  The trailer for The Caretaker did look like it would be a funny lighthearted story which for the way the series has gone lately would be a good change considering Series 8 has by far been the darkest since the show has returned.   The Caretaker sees The Doctor going deep undercover at Coal Hill School where Clara works to fend off an alien that can destroy the Earth.  What follows is anything but stellar.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Time Heist Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Time Heist 
By Steven Moffat and 
Steve Thompson

“Shut up. Everybody shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shutitty up,up, up!”

I was never a fan of movies that were centered on robbing banks like the Ocean 11 movies.  Well, I take that back I did enjoy both versions of The Italian Job but never the less I was never a big fan of that type of movie.  So when I saw the trailer for Time Heist I had reservations about it.  But then I saw who co-wrote it with Steven Moffat and my mind was set at ease a little bit.   I did like Steve Thompson’s previous work on Who and Sherlock so there’s a chance I will enjoy Time Heist.

Goodbye to 12 - Doctor Who - Listen Review

We celebrate the Peter Capaldi era by revisiting the 12th Doctor's adventures as we count down the days to his last adventure.

Doctor Who:
Listen
By Steven Moffat

“What’s that in the mirror, and the corner of your eye? What’s the footstep following, but never passing by?”

We all have had nightmares.  Waking up in the middle of the night in a fright and being scared for no apparent reason as our subconscious has a little fun at our own expense.  We have all been there. But what is the cause?  Is it an invisible creature under the bed waiting to get us? Those of us with kids have to deal with the inevitable nightmare in the middle of the night that wakes us in a startled state.  But what happens when a Time Lord has a nightmare?  What happens when he thinks he is not alone?  We found out after watching “Listen” or did we.