The Doctor is in . . . on DisneyXD!

That's right Doctor, you're on Disney!

We are huge fans of "Doctor Who" here at the blog and boy do we have exciting news! The David Tennant seasons of "Doctor Who" will be airing on DisneyXD! The news comes from Variety.

DisneyXD will air seasons two through four starting with "New Earth" preview on May 9. The series will continue to roll out daily starting June 13.

“Disney XD is recognized for its family-friendly programming, making the channel a great partner to introduce the David Tennant seasons of ‘Doctor Who’ to a new generation of viewers,” said Matt Forde, exec VP of sales and co-productions in TV at BBC Worldwide North America, in a statement.

The Doctor has been through almost all of time and space and now he's landing on DisneyXD for a new generation. It's hard not to fall in love with the Doctor. The Doctor will be a wonderful addition to the DisneyXD line-up which is currently crowded with comedies that remain a little lackluster. Doctor Who will bring some much needed action, adventure, and timey-wimeyness to the channel. The brilliant stories (Blink, for instance), wit, and intelligence will inspire viewers and maybe even challenge their conceptions of time and space . . . and statues. 

So tune in and whatever you do . . . don't blink!

Review: Doctor Who Season Finale

Doctor Who

Dark Water & Death in Heaven

I decided to do the finale of Doctor Who: Season 8 together, as they were best experienced back to back.

Dark Water, the first of the two episodes, finds the Doctor and Clara embroiled in a rather strange scheme that involves the dead, some rather interesting water, and Missy. Danny Pink, a character who seemed a little directionless in the season (besides being a soldier, which foreshadowed events in the finale) is killed off immediately in this episode catalyzing the events that follow. Danny's death leads to Clara acting out towards the Doctor in an attempt get him to change time and bring back Danny. The Doctor agrees, in a wonderful exchange about friendship. 

The Tardis locates where Clara and Danny's timelines were most likely to cross paths again - a building filled with underwater skeletons. Missy is there waiting for them and introduces herself as an android with a heart. We also get to meet the incredibly good looking Dr. Cheng. Here we learn more about the Nethersphere (where Danny Pink is currently learning about the afterlife). We also learn that Missy is up to no good with a plot to harness the dead to create an army.

The skeletons in the water, Dark Water to be exact, a water that Dr. Cheng says is x-ray water, allowing only organic matter to be seen hiding the exoskeletons that are keeping the skeletons upright, begin to come alive. As the water falls, it reveals the Cybermen! The return of a great foe! Who are working with none other than Missy, who also happens to be the Master! The return of another great foe!

Death in Heaven, the second episode, reveals what Missy's plan is and introduces UNIT back into the series. Missy, also known as the Master (who is wonderfully regenerated into a woman!) is planning on taking the dead of Earth and making them into a controllable army of Cybermen, including P.E. (that's Danny Pink)! This army will be raised by a cloud that rains cyber pollen on the Earth's graveyards, creating a storm of mechanical madness.

The Doctor, in the meantime, has been taken by UNIT to be the President of Earth. Clara stalls for time and is saved by the Danny Pink Cyberman. Missy is held captive and an Eleventh Doctor reference is made (bow ties are cool!). Some deaths occur and a reference to a long lost character is made to delight of fans.

In the end, things work out quite nicely. There is a wonderful monologue by the Doctor that harkens back to a question that has plagued the Doctor throughout this season, "Am I a good man?"

The answer to that question is yes. Yes, the Doctor is a good man, but he is so much more than that! 

Final Thoughts:

This was a good season finale that brought back some old enemies that deserved a revisit. It was especially wonderful to see the Master regenerated as a woman who just wanted her childhood friend back. Logic aside, it was a fun plan with two unlikely allies, the Cybermen and the Master. It also brought up some interesting ideas about the afterlife that left one wondering. 

Review: Doctor Who - In the Forest of the Night

Doctor Who

In the Forest of the Night

This episode of Doctor Who finds Clara, the Doctor, Danny, and some school children facing a home invasion! But this home invasion is of the Earth and not by sinister aliens, but by nature itself.

This episode didn't really do too much for me or move the characters forward too much. The premise was an interesting one, with a massive forest sprouting up over night. At first, no one is sure what is going on and assumes something sinister is about to strike the Earth. 

I quite liked the ultimate idea that came out near the end, that the Earth was fighting back against a solar flare, protecting the inhabitants of the planet by creating excess oxygen that would burn off when the solar flare hit the planet. However, this story was mucked up by some trivial relationship issues between Clara, Danny, and the school children. 

I would have loved to have seen more with the firefly-like creatures that did not get enough screen time or explanation to really understand what they were all about. The addition of children into this series seems interesting, as if to keep some sort of child-like presence in a series and themes that are more adult than previous series. The kids just kind of slow down the action and the story and do not always fit well into this version of Doctor Who. Perhaps there is a bigger message about growing up here that I'm missing. 

Final Thoughts:

I liked the premise quite a bit, but something was off in this episode. The story did not get the attention it deserved and the characters seemed a little flat in this one. But overall, I really like the idea of trees saving the Earth!

Review: Doctor Who - Mummy on the Orient Express

Doctor Who

Mummy on the Orient Express

A murder, a train, and the Doctor, all in one place. This episode finds our heroes on their last hurrah together, as Clara had decided previously that she couldn't keep traveling withe the Doctor. It was strain on her and a strain on her relationships on Earth. Their last hurrah, however, would prove to bring them back together.

An ancient curse is running rampant on the Orient Express in space. A confined little setting that allows, what looks like, folks from the 1920s to witness bizarre events that lead to the deaths of a few passengers. A curse known as the Foretold, a mummy that only appears to its victims and kills in 66 seconds. It's a fun little curse, but we don't get much explanation about the curse and the wrapped cadaver's motivation. I quite enjoyed the idea of a fear that only you can see that is truly real. What do you do with your last 66 seconds? Does it really matter how you behave when you know your in danger? 

Clara ends up trapped most of this episode away from the Doctor, perhaps allowing her to reflect on her travels and how much she really enjoys them, even though she's in danger much of the time. 

The theme of soldiers comes back up again as we find out a little bit of information about the Foretold's origins and the train conductor. Both soldiers of some kind. The Doctor sure has been running into a lot of them this season! Is that important? Yes. Yes it is.

Even though things work out just fine, the Foretold disappears (ending a 5000 year old fairy tale) and the artificial intelligence known as GUS, who is the mastermind with vague motivation behind the Foretold and the voice of the train itself, is destroyed, many things remain unanswered. Who is GUS? What did the Foretold really want? Why 66 seconds? 

In the end, Clara decides to continue traveling with the Doctor. And who wouldn't?

Final Thoughts:

It was a fun episode with a great setting and an interesting challenge to overcome. I find that this Doctor is all about slightly morbid Curiosity as a theme (the insides of a Dalek, the creatures that live in the dark, etc), whereas the Eleventh Doctor was mostly about Hope. Let's see where this curiosity takes us!

Review: Doctor Who Kill the Moon

Doctor Who

Kill the Moon

This episode finds the Doctor and Clara traveling to the moon to change the course of mankind. But this time is a little different - the Doctor stays out of it! 

When Clara tries to get the Doctor to apologize for calling a student "not special," the Doctor makes a bold decision to prove himself. Clara, the Doctor, and Courtney are whisked away to the moon in the Tardis where something universe altering is about to occur.

This episode is mostly about decisions. People are making a lot of decisions, from deciding to go to the moon, to explode 100 nuclear bombs, to save the moon, or to just run. Many things hang in the balance in this episode - future of mankind and the moon, as well as a relationship that was already slightly strained between the Doctor and Clara.

We find that companions are probably the best when traveling with the Doctor, rather than trying to live two lives. Clara begins to realize, or perhaps Danny Pink has had some influence, that the Doctor's life, and therefore her life, are difficult to balance. Hard decisions must be made and the Doctor will not always tell you the right way.

I really liked that the Doctor stepped out of this episode for a little bit. He left everything up to three humans who, right or wrong, were going to make a very human decision. One that would change the course of the universe.

This episode brought up some interesting ideas about what the Doctor knows and doesn't know. Did he know that Courtney was special and was just saying she wasn't to help push her along? Contrary to what the Doctor claimed about grey areas in his mind, he seemed to clearly know the outcome of the situation, but not how the decision was going to be made perhaps. This Doctor is a keeper of secrets, mores than any other. He is dark and brooding sometimes, but all for good reason. 

Final thoughts:

I liked the episode just fine. This season is really driving home the idea of what it is like being a companion to the Doctor. It affects you. Inside and out. Your decisions. Your life. Your way of thinking. Clara has a lot of thinking to do now. She's a wonderful companion and brings  avery human soul to the show, much like Donna Noble did.

Review: Doctor Who "The Caretaker"

Doctor Who

"The Caretaker"

"The Caretaker" is an appropriate title for the themes expressed in this episode of Doctor Who. This episode finds the Doctor posing as a human caretaker at, of all places, the school where Clara and Danny Pink teach. 

This episode introduces a deadly assassin called Skovox Blitzer (a very cool name for a cool looking creature). Skovox Blitzer is the deadliest assassin in the universe and wants to destroy humanity. To do so, Skovox hides out on Earth in an abandoned building, waiting to strike. 

While Skovox is stalking around, the Doctor and Danny Pink meet. Causing much tension between the Doctor, Danny, and Clara. Words are fired at each other fairly quickly and it all boils down to who is the real caretaker of Clara - the Doctor or Danny. Danny also recognizes in the Doctor his affinity for giving orders and how similar the Doctor is to military types. A comparison I'm sure the Doctor doesn't love.

While the Doctor clearly doesn't like Danny (but much prefers that Clara's boyfriend be the Matt Smithish teacher), Danny helps save the day and the Doctor now might be persuaded to sing a different tune. We'll see how this new relationship turns out. After all, after "Silent," there are some new threads binding the Doctor to Danny Pink, and possibly into the future.

Final Thoughts:

The episode excelled with bringing in some new dynamics between characters and creating some tension with the Doctor. It also introduced a very visually appealing villain, who I hope returns to show off what it can really do.

Review: Doctor Who "Listen"

The episode, Listen, written by Steven Moffat, is probably the strongest episode of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Who so far.  Well written and incredibly spooky, Listen shows us a new side of The Doctor we’ve never seen and explores the childhood nightmare of the thing under the bed. The whole episode deals with the idea of fear.

Listen begins with the Doctor asking the questions, “What is the perfect camouflage?” In traditional Doctor Who fashion he is manically talking, ranting, and discussing his ideas out loud. He lists the different types of camouflage then asks,

“Question – Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding? Answer – How would you know? Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed? It could be with us every second and we would never know. How would you detect it? Even sense it? Except for those moments when for no clear reason you choose to speak aloud. What would such a creature want? What would it do? Well? What would you do?!”

This propels the episode forward with the Doctor trying to discover what this creature is. We come to understand that everyone has the same dream The Doctor did, a dream where you wake in the middle of the night, step off the bed, and something grabs your ankle. He asks Clara if she had it, and she did, and so has everyone else in the universe. In the meantime, however, Clara has a date with Danny Pink and things go sour. She leaves him at dinner, and takes off with The Doctor to discover the perfect hiding creature.

What follows is  probably one of the more haunting scenes in Doctor Who history.

Clara talks with a small orphan named Rupert. He fears something in his room. She tells him it’s nothing and there are no monsters under the bed. She crawls under the bed and invites Rupert to join her. As she talks with him and she convinces Rupert monsters aren’t real something sits on the bed. We never saw anything walk into the room. They crawl out to see something sitting in the center of the bed with a red blanket over it. All it does is sit, vaguely human in form. The Doctor rushes in and tells them not to look, to ignore it. The Doctor gives this advice with the creature on the bed behind them:

“Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard I can feel it through your hands. There’s so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain it’s like rocket fuel. Right now you could run faster and you can fight harder. You can jump higher than ever in your life and you are so alert it’s like you can slow down time.

What’s wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower! Your superpower! There is danger in this room. And guess what? It’s you. Do you feel it? Do you think he feels it? Do you think he’s scared? Nah. Loser!”

The creature then ends up standing behind them. Clara and Rupert turn to look. The Doctor tells them not to. Don’t look. It runs off. At the end of the episode we don’t know what it ever was. Disappointing, but not the point. The point of this episode is dealing with fear and we learn The Doctor is afraid of the dark. In a brilliant, full circle story, The Doctor has a real fear. It’s a must watch episode which is why the details here are vague. Time travel, The Doctor as a child, Danny as a child, Clara’s future revealed, etc. I know that scene haunted me for a few days after.

The episode was rewarding, developing The Doctor, Clara, and Danny Pink. We got to explore our deepest, darkest, fears, but also learn that they are a super-power. That is what fuels The Doctor, not fear itself, but the power that comes with fear. Clara leaves us with this thought:

“This is just a dream, but very clever people can hear dreams. So please, just listen. I know you’re afraid, but being afraid is alright. Because didn’t anybody ever tell you? Fear is a superpower. Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger. And one day you’re gonna come back to this barn and on that day you’re going to be very afraid indeed. But that’s okay, because if you’re very wise and very strong fear doesn’t have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind. It doesn’t matter if there’s nothing under the bed or in the dark so long as you know it’s okay to be afraid of it. So listen. If you listen to anything else, listen to this. You’re always gonna be afraid even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion, a constant companion, always there. But that’s okay because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home. I’m gonna leave you something just so you’ll always remember. Fear makes companions of us all. <she leaves Dan the Soldier Man at his bedside>”

Review: Doctor Who "Robot of Sherwood"

Doctor Who

"Robot of Sherwood"

This past weekends episode of Doctor Who finds the Doctor and Clara visiting a legend - Robin Hood, at the request of Clara. The Doctor, however, doesn't believe that the man known as Robin Hood even exists. Enter the conflict of this episode.

In this episode, the story arc about robots and the Promised Land continues and we learn a little more about the Doctor. Robin Hood seems to exist, as well as his Merry Men. Clara is head over heels at meeting the real Robin Hood, while the Doctor is more skeptical. Yes, the Doctor is always skeptical, but he seems more so in this season. He seems less likely to believe in the unbelievable and the fantastic, and dwells mostly on the logic and reality of a situation. Very different than past incarnations of the Time Lord.

While trying to figure out what kind of thing Robin Hood is, the Doctor gets into a battle of egos with Robin Hood. Who's the better man? Indeed, who is the better man? Who is the hero and who is the man who time will forget? egos aside, there is something strange in Sherwood. 

In the trademark shooting contest, not only does the Doctor get involved, but he helps reveal that the Sheriff has robot buddies that begin blasting the place up. These robots are not like Cybermen or the Clockwork robots from before - they are fast and have great aim. Well, great aim for any robot minion. 

These robots are preparing to blast-off from the planet very soon by using. However, with egos bruised and Clara now potentially in danger, the Doctor and Robin Hood realize they have much in common and eventually work together to destroy the Sheriff and his robot army. 

In the end, the Doctor and Robin Hood discuss the role of heroes. This is where information about the new Doctor is slowly being revealed. As Robin Hood now only exists in legend and as a inspiration for other heroes, perhaps the Doctor is the same. Maybe is power lies in the fact that he is mostly legend now. Is he a hero though? Only time will tell.

Final Thoughts:

A fine episode that seems to move the story arc along with robots and the Promised Land but also a small glimpse into the nature of the Doctor as hero. Is he one? Does he want to be one?

Review: Doctor Who "Into the Dalek"

Doctor Who

"Into the Dalek"

The second adventure in season eight deals mostly with the most feared and hated of the Doctor's enemies, the Daleks. It also introduces a new character Danny Pink. But beyond that, it's a critical episode for understanding the new Doctor, who tries to come to terms with who he is - or perhaps who he wants to be.

Meet Rusty, the good Dalek. Or is he? This episode focuses most on the duality of life. Are things inherently evil or inherently good? And if so, can someone change from one to the other. Does being alive automatically subject you to the labels of good and evil? 

The Doctor, after rescuing a soldier from near death, ends up aboard a vessel that has a single Dalek in their care. A Dalek who wants to destroy all Daleks. The Doctor, ever skeptical, retrieves Clara to help him in this scenario. Can a Dalek be good. It turns out that this Dalek is suffering from an internal radiation leak, which in turn is allowing suppressed memories to surface. A particular memory, a star being born, allows Rusty to see that life is eternal and forever, therefore making the prime directive of the Daleks obsolete.

The Doctor and friends shrink and travel inside Rusty to fix this internal hemorrhage of sorts. They battle Dalek antibodies, little floating eyes that destroy whom ever they deem a threat. One of the people they destroy gives her life for the Doctor and ends up in heaven with the mysterious woman from the first episode. The story arc continues.

The Doctor however goes through another test. He attempts to remind Rusty, whom after being fixed returns to its murderous ways, about the star being born and all the beauty in the galaxy by directly linking his own memories with Rusty's. However, this plan doesn't quite work. Rusty sees beauty  in the Doctor's memories, but also hatred. Hatred of the Daleks. A mirror has been put in front of the Doctor and he does not like what he sees. 

Clara in this episode serves an important function. She shows the Doctor what he cannot see. She allows him to discover things about himself by just simply asking a question. In essence, she fulfills the part of the Doctor that appears to be missing. Making him a whole man. 

Final Thoughts:

I think it was a nice idea to allow a Dalek to be the mirror for the Doctor. It allowed him to see what he sometimes overlooks - that through the goodness and the light, there is also dark. 

Review: Doctor Who "Deep Breath"

Doctor Who

"Deep Breath"

On August 23, the new Doctor revealed himself to the world in the first episode of the 8th Season entitled "Deep Breath." An appropriate title, as much of the world was holding its collective breath until this day. "Who?" was the question we were all asking. Well, that and "why? what? costume? etc."

A giant T-Rex, as tall or taller than Big Ben, has appeared in London, brought by none other than the Doctor. When we first see the Doctor he acts a lot like what we have come to expect from the Eleventh - fast-talking, lots of great hand gestures, and an occasion flirt, in this case with a dinosaur. It's fun to see the new Doctor thrown right into the thick of it. After a quick resolution to the dinosaur, a meeting with Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax (whom the Doctor gives descriptive names), the Doctor faints. 

Without doing a play-by-play of the episode, we get to see the Doctor and his allies defeat an army of murdering cyborgs. But while this is happening, we spend some time getting to know the new Doctor.

I enjoyed the Doctors struggle. For the first time, we get to see him truly grasp with his, for lack of better words, humanity. He has an appearance that he doesn't understand, that Clara doesn't understand, and it creates an interesting situation. The Doctor has to come to terms with the idea that he has changed to a new form that perhaps he was not ready to deal with, a form that is old, with a frown and wrinkles, and eyebrows that tell a story of furrowing and rather than surprise or enjoyment. He is old, something the Doctor has not been for a long time. 

Clara has to come to terms with it, too. No one explained regeneration to her. She has a really hard time believing this is the Doctor, until a call from an old friend and some pushing from Madame Vastra.

I think the most interesting part of the whole episode was the finale. Seeing Clara and the Doctor in a new Tardis (which clearly reflects the new Doctor, dark and foreboding, somewhat menacing colors, and not too much shiny) having a discussion helped me understand the Doctor more than the whole episode.

The end also clearly sets-up another story-arc, this time having to do with heaven, the eventual fate of those the Doctor thwarts, and a mysterious woman who seems to run the place.

Final Thoughts:

It's too early to judge this new Doctor. Will he win our hearts sooner rather than later, that is yet to be told. But it seems like we'll see a darker Doctor who needs to deal with realities more often. Good luck, Peter Capaldi!