Truly Dreadful Film

Touches You

Simply Perfect

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Our first real episode with Peter Capaldi is a nice introduction to him, I think. I think the episode itself is merely okay (in Victorian London, a cyborg who has taken so many human parts since its construction it is now more human than robot could be a threat to the Doctor and Clara), but it does a wonderful job, I believe, of commenting on the backlash that might have resulted in an older actor's casting of a treasured sci-fi character that had been portrayed previously by three much younger actors. Clara is (obviously, and why wouldn't she?) having a hard time adjusting to the new face (and age?) of the new Doctor that has "replaced" Matt Smith. She just doesn't know if she can get used to Capaldi's Doctor. I felt that this episode does a swell job of showing a "babe introduced to a new world out of the womb" in how frenetic and confused Capaldi acts to his surroundings right after his regeneration change. I think a regeneration is a traumatic event that truly changes the Doctor as he behaves, looks, and reacts differently with each transformation; it takes time (and why wouldn't it?) to adjust to such a change. So we see the Doctor gradually become more comfortable in his new skin while Clara herself must slowly embrace who this man now is. Who could expect that any companion can just brush aside the man they have become so fond of and close to for this new man with such a different face and disposition? There's a scene where it appears Capaldi leaves Clara to be killed by the lead cyborg harvesting human organs (it even kills a dinosaur that had caught the Tardis in its mouth, which stuck in its throat bringing it in time with the Doctor to Victorian London!), and she must orchestrate a means of protecting herself in dialogue with it. The banter between Doctor and companion has always been a thing of value I place on this long-lasting show. Chemistry between them can make or break the series. Sometimes casting is great and other times perhaps not so. I think the 80s was a down decade in that regard. But I think the 2000s (Piper, Gillan, and Coleman) certainly hit it out of the ballpark. Matt Smith's era was especially worthwhile in the relationships of Doctor and companion. I loved seeing how the companions became often so vital in how the Doctor succeeds against his foes, and their rapport during trouble enhances the excitement of scenes where the adversaries (and dangers that come with them) come close to vanquishing them. "Deep Breath" brings back characters seen previously in Victorian London: the lizard-alien, Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her wife, Jenny (Catrin Stewart), and butler, Strax (Dan Starkey). They all help the Doctor against the lead cyborg's army of unemotional robots in form of Victorian humans in an old ship that has been disguised as a restaurant. Missy, later to be determined as the female version of The Master (an old Who adversary), has welcomed the lead cyborg to her "paradise" for "him". The Doctor kept mentioning how the cyborgs remind him of something else (cybermen?) and knowing that really is telling due to how both Missy and the cybermen later factor greatly in a key episode towards the end of this season with Capaldi's version of the "man in the blue box". Neat makeup effects for Peter Ferdinando's half-human/half-robot as half his face is human while the other half shows all the mechanics working within him/it. Smith's call to Clara from Trenzalore, appealing to her virtuous nature regarding helping Capaldi, is a sweet, emotionally potent moment that allows her closure and a renewed interest in continuing on despite the regeneration taking away the man she cared for so much.

It's insulting when a TV show episode tells me how I should think about its characters by using weak, expository dialog. It's even worse when a plot isn't really a plot, rather a "vehicle" that makes some sponsored points but few impressions.This episode starts with an excellent setting/premise: a Victorian steam-punk mystery starring Vastra et al. and a new Doctor, plus throws a Tyrannosaur into the heart of London! You've got a smashing episode, right?Nah, sorry. Basically, all this episode does is repeatedly stuff certain concepts down one's brain through limp dialog, while failing to deliver on the plot side. The best I could describe it is "fun, I guess."Vastra/Jenny, with their proved character potential, are all but wasted in this episode. Moffat, instead of writing Vastra some of the cool investigative intricacies of Sherlock, just throws her a "game is afoot" line (duh, got it), some moralistic posturing at Clara, with tons of tweenishly awkward interpretations of an interspecies lesbian relationship which verge on adolescent slashfic. Look, we get it already.Straxx? As always, a great job at comic relief. It's just that in this episode, there's nothing really heavy to get comically "relieved" from. Clara, with her whole "OMG, the Doctor's old!" thing, is one of the most slighted characters in this episode. Do we really think that Clara loved the 11th Doctor because he was "young and hot?" All of the sudden a faithful Who companion is turned into a person who thinks mainly with her hormones (her subconscious full of young men having sex, per Straxx's exam), and requires a knock on the head from 3+ characters to "finally" hug an "old" man. If he were, say, made of rotting green bacon, then this whole subplot would've made sense. But no, the new doctor's just an older-looking guy. It's not like he's asking her on a date, after all. What're the writers so insecure about?The villain in this episode could have been so much cooler. I mean, multiply steam-punk by millions of years... a sci-fi writer's dream! At least, he could have been relevant and/or made logical sense. But no, robots who only know you're not a robot if you breathe, and will hack at you with swords until you decide to hold your breath. And if they can make a blimp out of skins, how come El Honcho's missing half his face?Capaldi? Yeah, he's good. I appreciated the occasional tributes he did to previous doctors, but most importantly, by taking the crappy script he got this time and making it OK, he's gonna carry the role well. In all, an entertaining episode, though with insulting writing aimed at the LCD. I hope they don't saddle Capaldi with having to save every episode.

For over a year now, when we first learned that Matt Smith would soon be leaving Doctor Who and that Scottish actor Peter Capaldi would be his replacement, fans have been waiting to see a new Doctor in action. With the Series Eight premiere episode Deep Breath, that wish has been granted. So does Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor live up to expectations and what about the episode itself?Much of the attention being focused on the episode was in regards to Capaldi's new Doctor. What would this older Doctor be like? Would fans and the public accept him after the two younger Doctors that proceeded him? If Deep Breath is anything to judge by, any worries were unfounded. Capaldi's Doctor does something essential for any successful Doctor: calling back to the old while also being something new as well. There's a strong sense of familiarity to this Doctor who, with his occasional irascibility and physicality, brings to mind Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor in particular. There's also a cerebral quality to him as well but also a darker edge at times, with a sense of uncertainty regarding how far this Doctor might go. Despite that darker edge, there is still a warm and friendly side to this Doctor as well. What the episode presents us with isn't just the beginning of Capaldi's Doctor but the sheer range he has as well.Jenna Coleman's Clara, having been freed from the "impossible girl" element that so dominated the character during Series Seven, is given quite a bit of development in this single episode. Clara firmly becomes the audience identification figure here with her uncertainty and questioned faith in the Doctor presumably reflecting that of the audience. Coleman and Capaldi share some excellent chemistry together that indicates a friendship that gradually builds between them and will presumably continue to do as this season progresses. Elsewhere, Deep Breath might well be the episode where Coleman really comes into her own as Clara as demonstrated by her confrontation with the Half-Face Man about two-thirds of the way through the episode. As a result, this might well be Coleman and Clara's best episode to date.The supporting cast is strong as well. The Paternoster Gang of Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny (Catrin Stewart), and Strax (Dan Starkey) makes a welcomed return with Strax continuing with his obligatory scene stealing. Peter Ferdinando's Half-Face Man, the episode's villain, is wonderfully sinister and menacing while also finding sympathy towards the episode's end as well. Rounding off the supporting cast for mostly comedic purposes are Paul Hickey's Inspector Gregson, Tony Way's Alf and Brian Miller (the actor husband of the late Elisabeth Sladen) in a delightful scene as a tramp that the Doctor encounters.What about the rest of the episode though? Well of particular note is the excellent direction of Ben Wheatley who brings strong sense of atmosphere and tension to some of the best scenes and moments of the episode. There's of course the strong sense of period settings and costumes which is a hallmark of the BBC. The score from Murray Gold introduces some new musical themes for the new Doctor as well as a new arrangement of the show's iconic theme tune of which I for one am still undecided about (though the new credit sequence it accompanies is perhaps the best we've had since the show returned nearly a decade ago). So in terms of production values then, the episode is fairly strong as well.What the episode builds from though is the script by show-runner Steven Moffat. Having already deftly handled Matt Smith's debut in The Eleventh Hour, Moffat does things differently here. While of course handling the introduction of the new Doctor, it also tries to be a fairly traditional Doctor Who story as well. The results on the whole are fantastic with some wonderful scenes, often between just the Doctor and Clara effectively having to become friends all over again (something meant perhaps to be symbolic of the show's audience with the series itself). The episode contains some nice ties back to the show's past both in its dialogue (with one moment calling back to the exit and entrance of two iconic Doctors four decades ago) and in terms of plot elements as well. Where the script, and by extension the episode itself, falters a bit is in striking the balance between the introduction, the scenes that tie into that and the more traditional plot with does mean that the episode is at times oddly paced. On the whole though, Moffat's script works though it isn't his best or worst by means.So while perhaps being a more traditional story does mean that isn't as original or as brilliant as some previous Doctor entrances, Deep Breath stands up rather nicely. Capaldi's Doctor hits the ground running, Clara gets a new direction, the supporting cast is good while the production values and script support the entire production on the whole. Twelve's hour has come and the clock is running...

As this episode opens one could be forgiven for thinking you were watching an episode of 'Primeval' as we see a tyrannosaurus rex rampaging through London… that is until it becomes apparent that this is Victorian London and it coughs up the Tardis! The Doctor who emerges from it is quite a bit older than the one in the previous series and he is having difficulty with the names of people he should know and with his new appearance. The Doctor and Clara are taken to Madame Vastra's house but the Doctor wanders off. It looks as if he and Clara are to be separated but she spots an advert in The Times which could only have come from The Doctor; it leads her to a restaurant where they are reunited and he tells her how he found her advert! Clearly it was a trap; they are in a room full of creepy automata and it would appear they are on the menu!.The first episode of a new Doctor is always a little difficult to judge; the character is familiar yet also unfamiliar; both for the viewer and the characters who know him. Much of the first half of the episode was given over to getting Clara, and through her the audience, to accept the change… then the real action started. The villain of the story was suitably creepy without showing us what he did in any detail… a family show can't show organ harvesting robots who have made a balloon from human skin! It isn't all scares though; we get a few laughs too, mostly from Strax.Peter Capaldi got off to a fine start in his first full episode as The Doctor; it certainly looks as though he will be quite different when compared to the other 'new-series' Doctors. He is still somewhat manic, so much so that I feared he'd end up in Bedlam as he wandered around London in a nightshirt! Jenna Coleman continues as assistant Clara Oswald so we don't need to get used to two new protagonists as we did when Matt Smith took over and the presence of Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny and Strax provide more familiar faces. The episode is almost double the usual length but at no point did I think the story was dragging. Overall I found this to be a fairly enjoyable episode and have a feeling I'll like this new Doctor.