Oxygen

This serious is progressing way too quickly, I've been so impressed by the episodes thus far, the latest 'Oxygen' promised much.

A few days ago I watched a film called In Time, where people have to pay for their time to exist, it impressed me, that idea was realised here where the world is at a stage where you need to pay for your own oxygen, it had a real pop at the capitalist world, almost reminding me of an episode of the Green Death, where a similar message was used.

Once again, I was so impressed by this episode, I know some will say it was another base under siege episode, but there were so many elements that worked particularly well, which made Oxygen feel like one of the better ones. The Space Zombies for example, it's nice to see a bit of horror has returned to the show, first Knock Knock, and then Oxygen, the show works so well when the tone is that little darker.

Nice touches of humour, the race card being played in a different way, that was cleverly done. Good use of Special effects too, the space station looked great, and finally mention of the fluid link, long since forgotten.

I liked the twist of The Doctor being temporarily blinded, that gives next week's episode a very different tone. The episode did a good job in setting out what a bleak future lay ahead, and I'm sure there was a hidden message in the dialogue.

Gravity meets 28 days later meets money grabbing corporations, this was fantastic 9/10

A critique on zero breath contracts? The 'Alien' series of films have mined this field of an unscrupulous corporate employer. In Oxygen the suits kill you if you become unproductive, just before a new ship carrying your replacement arrives.

Jamie Mathieson has been a reliable writer for Doctor Who and he sure has fun here. The opening lines by the Doctor is borrowed from the opening from Star Trek but without that show's optimism. The Doctor tells the students that space wants to kill you. The pre-credit sequence featuring zombies in a spacesuit would had sent younger children rushing behind the sofa.

This episode has Nardole travelling with Bill and the Doctor which makes me wonder who was guarding the vault? Bill continues to impress as her fear is real. She is new to space travel and her suit is malfunctioning so she cannot breathe.

It is a base under siege episode with a zombie crew in pursuit. Not easy to pull off in a family adventure show, this is undercut by some humour such as Bill getting accused of being a racist by a blue man.

There are proper perils here and the finale is a real blinder.

Finally an episode that had substance, depth, proper sci-fi and not just running around and away from a horrible CGI monster. Most importantly an episode actually in space, we don't get enough of those in New Who, especially in recent seasons. Glad Bill got a taste of her own medicine about the racism thing too, yes it is that easy to be accused of being racist.

A breathe of fresh air for Bill Potts, gets to walk in space with astronauts, but there's a big price to pay, for the oxygen bouquet, that's acquired in breathable shots.

Some space suits have a mind of their own, their incumbents evicted, dethroned, it's created a schism, cosmonaut capitalism, the less well-off left all alone.

Certainly a highlight of this Series so far, as Jamie Mathieson writes another great story for Doctor Who. Mackie was exceptional at portraying fear throughout the episode; Lucas was great on his first adventure through time and space in the TARDIS; Capaldi was outstanding as usual, while the audience is treated with another one of his wonderful lectures; the rest of the cast were brilliantly unique and amazing in their own way. One great thing this Series has done exceptionally is the visuals, which really shows on the nightmarish zombies.

The capitalism concept was very interesting also, making for a unique base-under-siege story. The Vault storyline is going quite nicely throughout the Series, making it feel very grounded and reminiscent to the UNIT Pertwee era in the 70s. Series 10 continues to get somewhat stronger each story. Also, the Monks look great for next week!

Episode 5 "Oxygen" - 9/10