You may never look at murals the same way. “Flatline” is here to remind you that while two dimensions may seem harmless to the average three-dimensional being… there are many possibilities for what lies beyond our senses.
Summary
The Doctor is trying to get Clara home, but finds his readings off. The door to the TARDIS has shrunk; the TARDIS is smaller on the outside. Clara gets out to investigate and comes back to find it even smaller; the Doctor can no longer get out. He gives her the sonic screwdriver and an earpiece so he can speak to her and sees what she sees. They’re in Bristol, and people have been disappearing from an estate with no trace. A teen named Rigsy, who is doing community service for graffiti, meets Clara and offers to help with her investigation; she tells him that her name is the Doctor.
The two consult a police constable, who acknowledges that he police have done very little to help with the disappearances. She later gets sucked up by the ground in one of the missing people’s flats. The Doctor finally puts it together when he sees the PC’s nervous system on the wall; the things causing these vanishings are creatures from a two-dimensional plane of existence, and they’re trying to learn about us. Clara and Rigsy barely escaped being “studied” themselves, and an ill-timed phone call from Danny lets him know that Clara is still with the Doctor. It also lets the Doctor know that Clara lied about Danny being alright with their continued travels.
Rigsy gets in trouble with his community service supervisor, Fenton, for being late from lunch. The graffiti that they’re painting over now looks like a memorial for the victims, but turns out to be the creatures. Clara clears them all out of the area and directs them to a warehouse, then the underground stations. The Doctor tells her that she must establish herself as their leader. Clara tries to give everyone hope that they’ll survive because she knows that’s what the Doctor does to keep people limber. They lose more of their party until there’s only Rigsy and Fenton left. The two dimensional aliens are beginning to emerge in three dimensions, and they keep draining power from the TARDIS. They have the ability to make 3D aspects 2D, and switch them back again, which they do with door handles, etc. Fenton makes Clara drop it onto train tracks, and the Doctor only manages to survive by putting the TARDIS in siege mode, which drains the rest of the ship’s power. He tells Clara that he’s not sure she’ll hear him, but he thinks she made an excellent Doctor. He’s running out of life support.
Clara tries to get a train conductor to ram through the creatures ahead, but that plan doesn’t work. (Rigsy seems willing to give his life for it, but Clara prevents him with the clever use of her headband.) Instead, she takes the crew to an old underground office, and has Rigsy make a painting on the back of a poster that looks like a doorway. She assumes that the creatures will try to make the door handle 3D, not realizing that it’s fake, and that the power they use will siphon back into the TARDIS. It works and the Doctor is able to send the creatures back where they came from. Later, we see Missy looking at Clara on a tablet, and saying that she “chose well.”
Commentary
There are a lot of things to love about this episode. Frankly, while Who can sometimes get lost in its own complexities, this was a great example of how to juggle those complexities and give multiple stories their due.
At the forefront, we have a continuation of Clara’s journey in studying how the Doctor operates. In “Kill the Moon” he forced her to make a single, terrible decision, in “Mummy on the Orient Express” he confessed that his usual heroics were often not the result of foresight and planning. In this sojourn, Clara gets the opportunity to try out his role herself and see how it suits. Her chance to be “Doctor for a Day” provides her with a deeper working knowledge of why he does what he does. And slowly, we are watching Clara come around to the Doctor’s manner of doing things; she doesn’t always like what is required of her as she leads the group, but by the end of her journey, she feels she has done well.
The Doctor is less pleased with Clara’s giddiness over gliding into the role because he is still struggling with his question from the start of the season—whether or not he is truly a good man. We do see him step into his old shoes here; he charges in at the end of the adventure as “the man who stops the monsters,” giving one of his speechy-speeches with gusto. And he seems content with that title, but is still unwilling to think that makes him good.
Which in turn explains his unwillingness to praise Clara for doing so well in his position. It says a lot about the Doctor-Companion dynamic, right there; the Doctor doesn’t mind being the man who makes tough choices, but he doesn’t want the same for the people who travel with him. Clara calling that rapport into question is forcing him to confront the dynamic at a depth that he’s never managed before. While there have been companions who were allowed to make big choices on their own, or along with him, this is the first time someone has done it with the intention of “getting him.” It’s a navel-gaze that must seem like torture for a man who deliberately moves quickly to avoid exactly that thing.
It’s pretty damned impressive how the show has chosen to handle class issues in this season so far, and while a larger rumination is certainly needed, this episode served as a microcosm for what we’ve been seeing of late. Rigsy’s character is one who could h stereotyped by media for his race and his economic standing. But the episode doesn’t even glance at those stereotypes, instead establishing right off the bat that he’s a thoughtful, kind-hearted kid who lives in a community that gets passed over by the people in power. PC Forrest admits straight out to Clara that the cops haven’t been able to investigate these disappearances as well as they should because the “top brass” is hoping the problem will just go away. These are people living on council estates, as Rose Tyler did. The majority of them are quite poor, and many of them are people of color. And they are being ignored.
The story also makes a point of stating in no uncertain terms that graffiti is an artistic form. While this is no news to people who have been calling it such for decades, it’s an important distinction that is proved in the episode through Rigsy’s talent. The kid walks away from that ordeal realizing that his art has very real and measurable power (and then phones his mum because he’s a dear). And while some might be aggravated at the lack of character development given to his opposer, Fenton, it’s not really needed here. Some people really are unforgivably nasty bigots who won’t see the err of their ways. Sometimes they need to be shown that way, and we need to see them proven wrong. (Though it might have been nice to see the Doctor or Clara go off on him just once. It is interesting that similar to the finale of “Voyage of the Damned,” the Doctor has to own up to the fact that sometimes, the worst sort of people survive these adventures, and it’s not really his right to pass judgement on them.) The point here was not giving the privileged person a lesson—it was to encourage the underprivileged person to pursue their passions and recognize their worth.
As to the monsters of the episode, I’ve always loved the idea of tackling an alien race that lives outside three dimensions, and this was certainly a fun way to try it out. I’m not sure how soundly the episode handled the science of that, but it was played out with a creativity that I found very refreshing. It’s also a little heartbreaking to watch the Doctor and Clara desperately hold out in the hope that these aliens are peaceful and attempting to communicate. And the fact that we actually never find out their intentions does mean that a reprise is possible—and maybe next time they’ll be nice? One can hope.
Side note: I studied in Bristol for a year and there were no underground trains. I know they are building a system currently, but… still not sure that makes sense?
As for the tiny TARDIS (I will cop to cosplaying as Rose once with the toy version and using that exact premise as explanation), we have seen the ship get smaller on the outside once before, in “Logopolis.” Also, the TARDIS in siege mode was interestingly designed. It looked a bit like the Pandorica. Or a Jedi holocron. …What? That would be cool!
Of course, Clara has some explaining to do after shrugging Danny off at the end. So that will likely play out in the following episodes. And what about Missy’s mysterious utterance there at the end? It was actually a nice tease because it could mean any number of things. Is this part of Clara’s role as the woman who has appeared throughout the Doctor’s timeline? Is she being secretly manipulated by Missy in some way? Is Clara just the right kind of companion for whatever big kablooie Missy is planning?
Emmet Asher-Perrin wants a siege mode TARDIS. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
I was a bit worried that this would be one of those “monster of the week” episodes. It was, actually, but it was also much more than that. The tiny Tardis was hilarious! And both Doctor and Clara had some character development there. Also, I liked the idea with graffiti door as a trap for 2D beings. And why do I have a feeling that there’s one character in every episode, who I wouldn’t mind as a Doctor’s companion? Like Rigsy, and Perkins the last time, and Courney before that…
Now Missy, I really don’t know what she’ll turn out to be. She congratulated herself for choosing Clara (so she was the “woman in the shop”!) at the moment when Clara acts like the Doctor. Does that mean Missy was looking for somebody who would be able to replace the Doctor for some reason?
Did anybody hear what The Doctor named the aliens at the end? I couldn’t make it out over the swelling score and Capaldi’s thick Scottish accent.
Also, I saw an article that called the 3D incarnations of these aliens a cross between George A. Romero and a-ha’s Take On Me video, which is totally apropos.
He called them The Boneless. He doesn’t have a thick Scottish accent, trust me.
That’s two weeks in a row in which writer Jamie Mathieson has given us remarkably fresh storylines with wonderfully imaginative twists and really solid character drama. I think I have a new favorite candidate for the next showrunner. (Then again, when Davies was showrunner, Moffat was the one doing brilliant and inspired stuff. Hard to keep up that same level when you’re responsible for every episode.)
Yes, tiny TARDIS was a brilliant idea. Hardly any TV writer has ever really done anything with the relative dimensions of the TARDIS, even though it’s right there in the name. Christopher H. Bidmead (“Logopolis,” “Castrovalva,” “Frontios”) is the only other writer I can think of who played around with the dimensionality and topology of the TARDIS. Also Marc Platt in the novel Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible, to an extent. And what’s truly impressive is how perfectly the really funny and clever sci-fi gimmick meshed with the really worthwhile character story.
It’s worth noting that Clara is not the first companion to become a sort of “Doctor” herself. Sarah Jane Smith did it, and Rose, Mickey, and Martha all did to an extent. Captain Jack too, I guess, although his methods are the least Doctorish of them all. Indeed, looking at that list of names, I realize that was pretty much Russell T. Davies’s standard practice, to elevate companions to the status of independent heroes. Donna and Wilf are pretty much the only ones from his tenure who didn’t go on to heroic careers of their own.
@@.-@
Actually — as has been pointed out on iO9 — the companion with the character arc closest to Clara is Ace.
I thought this was a good episode. The ‘boneless’ were a good monster, although I really had hoped that the Doctor and Clara would solve the problem by communicating with the aliens, not defeating them. But the show made it clear that the Doctor had no choice but to do what he did. And it was nice to hear Capaldi give a good, old fashioned, “this planet is under my protection, stay away” speech.
I thought the tiny Tardis scenes were delightfully quirky, especially the Doctor trying to pull it off the tracks with his fingers, looking like a desperate hermit crab in the process. And the guest characters, Rigsy and Fenton, came to life very well.
I also liked the fact that the Doctor called Clara out on her lying, and that she blew her lies wide open in her phone call to Danny. She deserves the comeuppance that will probably occur in the next episode.
The only thing I dislike are all the discussions of “is the Doctor a good man?” and “is Clara a good Doctor substitute?” And whole idea of constantly whining that the Doctor saved only 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 or so percent of humanity, instead of every single person–I mean, what does it take for this guy to show he is a good man? I wish the writers would stop trying to tell us their point, and simply show us through the character’s actions. And the Missy interlude again was just pointless. I am beginning to dread the end of the season, because I find her and her mysterious purpose so irritating that I can’t stand the thought of whole shows being devoted to her.
There’s not an underground system in Bristol (and I’m pretty sure they’re not building one), but because of all the hills a lot of the overground lines go through tunnels, and there is a few that are abandoned now. Fenton’s Bristol accent was pretty good though.
As far as I know this is the first Who episode to be set in Bristol, although ia few bits have been filmed here.
Nice to see my home on the telly :)
At first, the “goodness had nothing to do with it” line seemed a disproportionately stern response to Clara’s mildly flippant demeanor. Then I remembered this Doctor’s relentless self loathing, and sighed as I realized that he still doubts his own goodness, and that he saw Clara’s actions as similarly tainted.
I’m done. This season has been all over the map with behavioral inconsistencies and illogical motivations/reactions, and so riddled with plot devices that feel like nothing more than convenient afterthoughts, that the only thing I can say with certainty is this – I no longer care about what happens. Yawn.
The only thing that let it down for me was the Missy thing at the end. I would dearly like to see Who abandon this semi-serialization, which just hasn’t really worked at all in the new series (or the old either, multi-part adventures fine, season arcs not reall), and just be straight episodic. The Missy thing has been pretty clumsily handled even by current standards, and just has not felt like an integral part of the story.
I’m looking forward to next week’s though. Danny leading his PE class through a wolfpit.
Pretty much agree with all of the above; my slight niggle was that after all the prolonged buil-up, the rather truncated resolution felt a little forced (a bit like one of the not-so-great Star Trek: TNG episodes where dire threat is reversed in the last three minutes by reversing the polarity of the transporters — or whatever…! — and everything reverts to normal).
The “Siege-Mode” Tardis looks an *awful* lot like the toy version of the Pandorica released with the DW action figures. A little easter egg…? A series in-joke perhaps…?
7. I believe they are restarting a suburban rail service. But that is recommissioned old lines, not brand new ones. I got the impression that the tunnel in the show was now almost unused, just in this case being used to allow them to ship one locomotive across the network without getting in the way of a proper train.
@6: I noticed the Doctor did an appropriate twist on that speech this time — instead of “This planet is protected,” it was “This plane is protected,” as in this dimensional plane. (Although geometrically speaking, it was the Boneless who were from a plane…)
So anyway, what do people think of the Twelfth Doctor’s musical theme? Not the main title, but the character theme that’s taken the place of “I Am the Doctor” for Matt Smith. Here’s a YouTube audio of it (apparently extracted from the episode audio for “Deep Breath,” so there are some level changes and sound effects intruding). “I Am” was so intensely catchy and dynamic that it’s hard to follow (and BBCA is still incongruously using it in their promos), and thus I found the new motif a bit underwhelming at first. But it’s growing on me. It’s effective, sounding strong and dramatic and somewhat heroic, but with a more minor-key ambiguity and a more deliberate, relentless pace, fitting the Twelfth Doctor. My main problem is that the basic melody is so short, making it more repetitive than “I Am the Doctor” was.
“Goodness has nothing to do with it” is one of Mae West’s best lines. I wonder if the Matt Smith Doctor dallied with her as well as Marilyn Monroe.
The Doctor also got Clara’s hint about THE ADDAMS FAMILY’s Thing to finger walk himself out of harm’s way. He’s obviously more culturally attuned to pop culture than he will admit.
I, too, have a hard time understanding PC at times. I’ve decided it’s not the accent but the poor accoustics when they are filming outside. They need a better sound person. I cut on the close captioning for these scenes.
The baby TARDIS will be this Christmas’ big WHO toy. And don’t tell me they didn’t think of that when they wrote this script.
Clara didn’t actually lead them through any underground stations as they weren’t any shown — I’m guess the piece of track used for filming was a maintainance line only as getting permission to close down a working transit line would likely been difficult to do.
The bit at the beginning about “They’re all around us, we’ve been so blind” seemed fresh when it was the Weeping Angels, but that was a while ago. We’ve had them, the Silence, the beings that might or might not have been in “Listen”, and possibly one or two others I’m forgetting, and at this point I think it’s a little overdone.
After the slightly shaky start, however, I thought the episode picked up quite well to be one of the best so far this season. The science was a little wonky, but (unlike in “Kill The Moon”) not wonkier than I could take. Clara stepped up to the plate nicely, and I enjoyed seeing the Doctor respect her a bit. The scene with the Doctor’s hand moving the tiny TARDIS like a hermit crab made me laugh.
Siege-mode TARDIS doesn’t really look that much like the Pandorica. Yes, they’re both metal cubes with circles on them, but the TARDIS has Gallifreyan writing, while the Pandorica has funky alien runes. Someone on rpg.net embedded pictures, so I’m about to test whether I can embed pictures here.
TARDIS:
Pandorica:
See? Not at all the same.
Can anyone explain me how the Boneless sucked the extra dimensions from Peter Capaldi’s hair?
“And while some might be aggravated at the lack of character development given to his opposer, Fenton, it’s not really needed here. Some people really are unforgivably nasty bigots who won’t see the err of their ways.”
Because those we agree with are human and rounded, and those we disagree with can be defined by cliched stereotype and are not worth seeing as human. That’s an attitude that always leads to communication, understanding, and change!
@12: I really dig 12’s theme. It’s not quite as heroic as 11’s “I am The Doctor”, but it’s definitely more intense, which I think fits Capaldi’s Doctor and the themes they’re trying to go with this season.
I thought “siege mode” TARDIS looked more like the Lemarchand box.
I agree with all of this wholeheartedly. I find our current tendency, as fans, to constantly view the hero’s actions in the most cynical possible light irritating. It seems as if we do this with everything. The main character does something heroic? Well, let’s pick it apart and analyze it through our jade goggles until it’s selfish, condescending or otherwise unheroic. This annoys me in fandom much more than it does in the show, since I think DW has been handling the Doctor’s morality pretty well this season. And the Promised Land thing really is boring; it’s like a paint-by-numbers Moffat mystery, and the most I’m hoping for is that it doesn’t screw up something that was originally cool, like the Christmas special did with the Silence.
That said, I really liked this episode. Probably my favorite of the season after “Listen,” which I think is going to take a long time to top. Neat visuals, a very creepy (and hopefully recurring) monster of the week, and the whole thing felt like it would’ve worked as a Seven-and-Ace story. I hope they keep Jamie Mathieson on for next season.
It is interesting that, after they set us up to expect a Three-style Doctor out of Capaldi, he is turning out very Seven.
@13: The Doctor’s been pop-culture savvy since his Ninth incarnation. I often wondered during the RTD era how he had time to watch all those TV shows. But then, his earlier incarnations showed a comparable familiarity with historical culture, literature, art, etc. and claimed acquaintanceship with countless historical figures. The Second Doctor once even claimed (in “The Moonbase”) to have earned a medical degree under Joseph Lister, which implies he hung around on Earth for six years or more of intensive study. (He may have been fibbing, though, since later incarnations denied being a medical doctor.)
As for the toy potential of the miniature TARDIS, there have been miniature TARDISes on sale for years now. I’m not sure what would be different about this one, unless they make one with a hand sticking out. Or unless they include a miniature miniature TARDIS as an accessory with a Doctor Clara action figure.
I want a tiny Tardis of my very own. It will go with the Dalek I got for Xmas. All I know about the location is that it’s not a rock quarry, so telling me it’s in Bristol doesn’t do much for me. I get the poor city kid right away though but, thats because of the graffiti. Clara is going to have a lot of expalaining to do to both Danny and the Doctor for all her lies. I’m glad the writers aren’t going to drag that on like they are with Missy. I don’t really care about her but I want to know if my pet theories are right. Side note: Why does no one ever say they work for UNIT when they use psycic paper? At least if a character called to check or report something weird it would go to the right people.
@21. I definitely see more of Four and Seven in him than any of his other incarnations, and his relationship with Clara is similar in a lot of ways to Seven’s relationship with Ace (probably my favorite companion ever).
I liked this episode. I think we are starting to see the true Doctor coming out, not just a confused and grumpy one. Did anyone notice the hair style differences as he exited the TARDIS to attack the Boneless? It was flat and combed and the next one in the lot it was its normal self. Not sure if this was to the differnet personalities and providing an insight in to what may come after he sorts himself out.
The fact that Danny is there with a bunch of school kids leads me to believe that the “comeuppance” Clara is going to get for being dishonest with Danny is somehow going to involve a class field trip via Tardis. Can’t wait to see how they rationalize that.
Watched this one with my father-in-law, by coincidence, and the second the tardis had landed he identified the “Bristol” location as an old rail sidings in South Wales (that he’d visited in 1968!), which makes sense as New Who is based primarily out of Cardiff. And the old rail tunnel is indeed decommissioned and apparently used as a shooting gallery now.
Side note: Why does no one ever say they work for UNIT when they use psycic paper? At least if a character called to check or report something weird it would go to the right people.
The way the psychic paper seems to work is that the person seeing it interprets what’s on it, rather than the person using it dictating what it says.
@28: which means that if you say you’re from some organization, people are primed to see the relevant accreditation on the psychic paper. That’s usually how it is used, it’s only when the Doctor is uninspired that he lets the subject decide what they see (like last week with the train’s inspector’s worst nightmare that turns out to be a mystery guest)
@14: “I’m guess the piece of track used for filming was a maintainance line only as getting permission to close down a working transit line would likely been difficult to do.”
It was filmed on a heritage line, the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Steam Railway. Hence why the train was restored to 1960s condition, despite the episode being set in the present day.
@23 The people would have to know what UNIT was for it to be effective. And given that Canary Wharf was retconned by the crack in the universe, it’s not clear just how many people even know who UNIT is anymore. The real UNIT tends to establish its authority by showing up with lots of people with guns and berets. Psychic paper can’t quite manage that trick.
Re: The Tiny Tardis
I was flashing on the model they used in lieu of special effects in very early Classic Who—a tiny Tardis would appear on a piece of ground before they mastered the “fade in” effect. One wonders if this was a salute?
For me, this kept up what I’ve enjoyed about this series so far. There’s a nice pair of character arcs providing continuity, which works better than the twisty turny plots of some recent seasons, and the situation of the week is usually interesting and unusual in some way. I hadn’t been struck by the commentary on class issues, but it’s a valid point, and it’s good to see that being addressed in a show like this without it having to be hammered home bluntly.
AIEEEEE!
@29: Actually he said “mystery shopper,” though I had to look that up to understand what it meant.
A mystery shopper is someone hired to ensure that the store and staff there are up to the standards set by the company. In the States, the United States Postal Service uses them, particularly doing the Winter Holiday shopping season
“Your worst nightmare is a mystery shopper?” made me laugh more than anything this season. That’s a lot of people’s worst nightmares.
Otherwise, @6 pretty much sums my thoughts on this season perfectly. The different haircuts and hairstyles from scene to scene and episode to episode make me think they finished the season and went back and reshot things and possibly changed the episode order to add in an arc as an afterthought.
The last two episodes were at least somewhat enjoyable for me but overall I think this is a season I won’t revisit the way I do previous ones.
@13: For all we know, the Addam’s Family’s “Thing” could be an actual alien in the Whoniverse … same goes for Cousin Itt.
You know it never states that Clara is living in 2014. It could be 2025 or 2040. maybe there will be an underground in Bristol then. Or maybe she’s in an Alt universe from our own
I have a question sort of unrelated to this episode, but just Doctorwho-ish in general. I’ve commented in czech discussion about this episode and we went slightly off topic: we started with Addam’s Family, continued to all sorts of references and allusions in DW and ended with what czech literature/film references we’d like to see (it became quite an interesting wish list). On top of that list a name appeared and everyone was like “yay, that’d be great, but it’s no Shakespeare or Agatha Christie, you know,” but it ocurred to me to ask here and find out: have you ever heard of Karel Capek?
@40 – my family came from Czechoslovia (I guess that’s obvious?) Karel Capek is known in America as the inventor of the word “Robot” but I don’t think his works are widely read here (which is a pity.)
Personally, this continues my wholehearted love of this season (the first New Who season — or New Who Doctor iteration — that I can honestly say that about). That we can rightly point to so many Classic Who versions that Capaldi is playing off of in personality is a testament to how well he’s doing in my mind.
While this wasn’t my favorite episode of the season (that’s not any slight against it, I just mean that I liked a few others better), it contained one of the greatest of all television moments: Clara being handed the giant sledgehammer from the TARDIS-in-her-satchel, looking to all the world as if she was pulling a giant hammer from a handbag. As someone who grew up with Bag of Holding jokes, I had to pause my DVR and literally ROFL.
I still think that David Tennant and Matt Smith are twee man-children who need better personal shoppers, but I could watch Peter Capaldi all day long…
@42 I loved the sledgehammer from the bag too, though it made me think Mary Poppins more than D&D. Very glad they didn’t also have a Dick van Dyke-style cockney accent in there.
@42: Wouldn’t it be a better testament to his own performance if he did something so fresh and different that it banished our memories of his predecessors, rather than just seeming like an imitation of what’s come before?
@41 JanKafka: Yes, very obvious ;). Thanks for an answer (well, technically, it was his brother Josef who invented the word robot for Karel’s play R.U.R. – it’s favorite trick question of literature teachers). I suppose those teachers also exaggerated Capek’s world-wide-known-ess (is that a word?) a bit to improve our self-esteem (in a “we’re tiny country, but we have at least one famous writer!” way). I still can’t shake feeling that there’s connection or at least similarity between his works and DW though (especially the classic episodes).
@44 ChristopherLBennett: Well, he says “Question:” a lot, that’s new (I think). But I agree with you and hope that the imitating (so we can say: yes, that’s definitely the Doctor) will be replaced with something different once we get used to Capaldi as the Doctor. It sort of helps the transition. And to be fair, all the scarf a jelly babies references make me feel nostalgic (I just realized I started to watch classic episodes year ago – where does this nostalgic feeling come from?) and I like them and don’t want them to stop. Ever.
@40 & @41 Dobry Den! Here in the UK I’ve not only heard of Capek but have read RUR as well. In English I should hasten to add. (Not seen it performed though). I wouldn’t say he was well known but he’s certainly not unknown. And thanks for the trivia regarding his brother. I didn’t know that!
Would love to see some Czech references in DW – although they’d probably go straight over my head.
@45 and 46 – I think Karel Capek in a class with Stanislaw Lem here where the name is known as a sort of Science Fiction Hall of Fame writer. He is considered a writer of importance, one who contributed something to the genre – but you don’t see his work on every shelf. I’ve read Stanislaw Lem, now I need to find a copy of R.U.R. – and thank you for the information about his brother.
Sorry to sidetrack the discussion – I’m still mulling over my feelings about this season of DW but I’m always for Czech influences.
Great review which echoed what I felt. Very enjoyable episode with some great humour, one-liners.
Although I disliked him, I was, in a way, glad the odious Fenton survived. Having him “flattened” would have probably satisfied many viewers (including me) but would have been a bit of a cliché (and wouldn’t have enabled the Doctor to make the point that the right people don’t always survive).
Jamie Mathieson’s addition to the writing pool has provided a breath of fresh air. However, I agree with Christopher L. Bennett’s comment: “Then again, when Davies was showrunner, Moffat was the one doing brilliant and inspired stuff. Hard to keep up that same level when you’re responsible for every episode” – absolutely right.
With Clara’s character being developed a lot in this season and with her growing discoveries of what it is like to be the Doctor and face his dilemmas and choices, it is hard to see that she would leave or be written out any time soon (unless she’s going to get a spin-off series – if she does, I hope Rigsy will be involved; lovely character).
I, too, found the Missy teaser annoying and intrusive (I’ve felt the same irritation in previous instances). After an enjoyable episode such as this one, it’s a bit jarring.
The TARDIS in siege mode reminded me of the puzzle boxes in the “Hellraiser” movies.
@48: I’m actually wondering if the rumors about Jenna Coleman leaving were deliberately sowed to lay the groundwork for the ending of “Kill the Moon,” so that we’d believe Clara might actually be leaving.
@6 While I am also a bit tired of the “good man” story, I don’t think that saving 99.999…% of earth’s inhabitants is sufficient to call him one. The Doctor has committed genocide, or at least tried to, a few times. He named himself the Time Lord Victorious, which turned out to be a bad move. He has had a few ill-considered marriages, abandoned his granddaughter and some other loved ones, been callous and manipulative, and taken decisions from other people that maybe he shouldn’t.
So in asking is he a good man, I don’t think it is about the outcome for earth, which has certainly been positive. He wants to know if he can trust his judgment, which hasn’t always been good, when dire decisions must be made. It has been a long time since someone as powerful as himself has been around to comment on his actions or share the responsiblity. He listens to Clara by choice, not because she is his equal in power. He needs her to be a reality check.
I enjoyed this episode. (I hope the Missy payoff is worth the wait.) Note: For another look at two-dimensional people interacting with three-dimensional people, see Strings by G. Miki Hayden.
@50 – All prime examples of Davies & Moffat further warping the franchise into something that conflicts with the spirit of Doctor Who. A “cool” idea isn’t justified by default – it should also make sense, and if it doesn’t, you probably shouldn’t use it, especially if it modifies The Doctor himself (one character who does not benefit from active attempts at character development). Sounds so simple. You’d think they would’ve learned that lesson with the Cartmel Masterplan failing to save the sagging original series.
In the past, the “as many cooks as possible in the kitchen” approach kind of worked in creating new Who material, if only because the show didn’t take itself as seriously back then (it also failed) – but if a show runner is insistent on penning heavier, modern story arcs, they should limit the size of the team working on each season to ensure cohesion, and they should adhere to a character focused style guide conceived by someone who understands both The Doctor, and (more importantly) the human condition – just imagine, with greater quality control, Doctor Who wouldn’t be a disappointing pile of conflicted big budget fan fiction – it would be brilliant. What a pleasure it would be to witness hour upon hour of quality content, as opposed to subsisting on what few glimmering scraps of greatness we get per episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjc1Qj2U7ck