Doctor Who Season 1. Premiere Review. Season premieres of Doctor Who are typically high- energy affairs, but the start of season 1. It’s partly due to the fact that, apart from the annual Christmas Special, the series hasn’t had a regular season episode since December of 2. Such a long time away certainly proves absence makes the heart grow fonder, as the season 1. Chief among those reasons is, of course, the understanding that, perhaps more so than any other installment in the long- running franchise – and certainly since it was revived 2. Pearl Mackie’s Bill, and also a major changing of the guard, as both star Peter Capaldi and longtime showrunner Steven Moffat are set to move on. TV being what it is these days, the information about Capaldi and Moffat’s pending departures has been known and discussed at great length for months already. That sort of advance knowledge has a unique impact on the series long before the first episode airs; the viewer goes in knowing it is the beginning of the end – or an end, considering Doctor Who doesn’t really ever end. As such, the pending transition from Moffat to incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall, and the more noticeable transition from Capaldi to whoever will be tapped to replace him alters the very atmosphere of the show itself; every moment is essentially fraught with significance, both real and imagined. That’s certainly true of the season premiere . The same goes for choosing the new Doctor. And while Season 1. For a good chunk of the hour, Capaldi’s Doctor is either off screen or he’s presented as a wildly enigmatic force, something as captivating and strange as the alien worlds and creatures Bill is introduced to after a sentient intergalactic oil slick hitches a ride with a young woman Bill has a crush on. The resulting adventure feels, for the first time in a long time, like the Doctor’s companion can greet her adventures with a great deal of enthusiasm and the requisite wide- eyed wonder. Astonishment at the splendor of it all is part and parcel to Bill’s appeal, and Mackie delivers it with aplomb. Her introduction to the TARDIS alone is one of the most charming reactions from a companion – or anyone, really – in years. Much of that has to do with the nature of the episode itself. Intergalactic oil slicks aside, the lack of an over complicated plot or need for exposition – as was needed, to a certain degree, with both Karen Gillan’s Amy Pond and Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald – affords the episode freedom to understand who Bill is through Mackie’s performance. Game of Thrones season 7, episode 1 Dragonstone review: Winter is here – and it’s great! GAME OF THRONES made its highly-anticipated comeback last night after.Without a pending alien invasion or the fate of the entire universe at stake, . Bill, the Doctor, and Matt Lucas’s Nardole are all on the run from the aforementioned oil slick that’s killed Heather, a student who works at the university Bill works at and the Doctor – because he’s the Doctor – lectures. It’s a simple and straightforward story that doesn’t need much in the way of set up or resolution, giving the lion’s share of the hour to Bill’s gradual introduction to the Doctor by way of some private tutoring, most of which unfolds via montage. The Doctor being a university lecturer is one of those new avenues that Doctor Who can introduce and explore thanks to the relativity of the Doctor’s existence and his day- to- day life. Essentially, there’s no reason he can’t have taught at a university for, as Bill mentions, like 5. Moffat’s script makes good use of Who shorthand in that sense, opening the door for a quick getting- to- know you between the Doctor and his new companion that takes place off screen for the most part. It’s a cheat, but a smart one. The Doctor and Bill know and are familiar with one another on a personal level, so when her understanding of the world and the universe at large expands in a very rapid series of events, the hour doesn’t also have to carry the weight of two strangers struggling to communicate with one another. Normally, an episode that makes good use of so many shortcuts might feel like it was wasting the viewers’ time or taking advantage of the fan base by giving them what they want by delivering a Dalek encounter and some fun timey- wimey stuff. But rather than simply present a rapid succession of Doctor Who elements, . In addition to introducing audiences to the wonderful and very welcome presence of Mackie, as well as her terrific performance as Bill, the time saving elements also give Capaldi a chance to shine as his more alien Doctor reveals an underlying reluctance to take on another companion. Despite his limited memories of Clara, the emotions of last season’s . But really, . The episode was a convenient single- serving streamlined adventure without too much on its plate, something Bill knows a little a thing or two about. Doctor Who continues next Saturday with. Doctor Who series 10, episode 7 review: 'Pyramid at the End of the World' is smart and surprising. It's the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine. Doctor Who Season 10 welcomes back Mark Gatiss, for Empress Of Mars. Here's our spoiler-free review. Doctor Who tries it hand at a, well, two-hander, as the Doctor and Bill explore a seemingly deserted colony. A heavy-handed diatribe railing against capitalism doesn't manage to spoil the tense atmosphere and fast-paced story of Doctor Who Season 10 Episode 6. Doctor Who series 10, episode 7: Watch our video review of 'The Pyramid at the End of the World' Did we love it, or was it a disaster of apocalyptic proportions? Let’s start with the blindingly obvious first: There has never been a Doctor Who episode like “Heaven Sent.” It’s a tour de force for writer Steven Moffat. In the Doctor Who season 10 finale, Peter Capaldi prepares for a grand exit, as the Doctor is pitted against Missy and the Master. Doctor Who season 10 episode 10 is The Eaters Of Light. Here's our spoiler-packed review. Doctor Who Season 1. Finale Review. In the Doctor Who season 1. Peter Capaldi prepares for a grand exit, as the Doctor is pitted against Missy and the Master. This isn’t your usual season finale of Doctor Who by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a great big unknown on the other side of . With a new actor in the role of the Doctor and Broadchurch. With so many major parts being replaced at once, the incoming change is poised to be a dramatic one the likes of which might even eclipse the handoff from Russell T. Davies to Moffat that led to the show being what it currently is. Still, before anyone starts looking too far into the future and wondering who will be the Doctor post- regeneration, there’s still the matter of season 1. Last anyone saw, Bill had been conscripted into the ranks of the Mondovian Cybermen and John Simm’s the Master revealed himself to the Doctor and before that. That self, of course, is Missy who appeared to have turned over a new leaf – or was at least seemed committed to trying to turn over a new leaf – before running into her past self in disguise (it’s almost scary that this is easy to follow) and seemingly siding with the Master as he points out the Doctor, Nardole, and Bill have inadvertently stumbled on the “genesis of the Cybermen.”As far as Doctor Who scenarios go, . And with the promise of regeneration right around the corner – as evidenced by last week’s cold open – there are some fairly high expectations set upon this season 1. Moffat and director Rachel Talalay had set quite the table last week by putting Bill and (who would be revealed as) the Master on a 1. Doctor, only to have Bill wind up becoming a Cyberman mere hours before his arrival. The scenario becomes one of those quirks of timing that sometimes plays out as too ironic considering the Doctor’s relationship with time, but the immediacy of Bill’s condition mixed with the encroaching Cybermen army and, of course, double the Master (double the fun) the finale manages to elicit more emotion from the circumstances than might otherwise seem possible with that many balls in the air. Last week it seemed like Doctor Who might have been overplaying its hand with its snowy opening sequence, but now, knowing the Doctor’s regeneration is right around the corner actually works in the finale’s favor. There is so much ground to cover in . The effect, then, is an episode that can devote more of its time to the question of Bill and Missy. With the amount of attention the vault received at the start of the season, there was some expectation that its occupant would have played a more prominent role in overarching narrative. As the season went on, neither the vault nor the idea of the Doctor’s oath really paid off in any meaningful way. Instead, both felt like more of a device to connect the Doctor to Missy and to legitimize her arc toward the end of the season. The series’ interest in the question of whether or not the Master could change wasn’t really serviced enough over the course of these past 1. Moffat was intending with this finale. And yet, because of Michelle Gomez’s performance, and her delightful pairing with Simm, Missy’s efforts to change weren’t entirely fruitless. Doctor Who takes a shortcut in bringing the Master’s story full circle by bringing Simm back to offer the audience a before and after. Gomez wonderfully expresses Missy’s struggle and externalizes what is essentially an internal conflict in a way that only makes sense in this series, so that when the Master kills Missy, after she sets into motion his regeneration into her, the arc winds up feeling emotionally satisfying if not entirely complete. There was some question as to whether or not the Doctor’s newest companion would be sticking around for the Chris Chibnall era, and it seems as though we have our answer. Moffat certainly sent Bill out with a bang, first blowing a hole through her chest, and then turning her into a full- on Cyberman. But it’s to Pearl Mackie’s credit, and the work she did during the season in making Bill as engaging a presence as she was, that the conclusion to her story was as emotionally fulfilling as it was. Bill being rescued by the Pilot from the season premiere was a nice touch, as Doctor pointed out how odd it was that a Cyberman was capable of crying. And though there was a touch of Moffat repeating himself, sending Bill and the Pilot out to explore the universe, just as Clara and Ashildr did at the end of last season, the emotional currency of Bill’s romantic connection helps it play just differently enough. With that Doctor Who says goodbye to another companion and sets the stage to say goodbye to both Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat. It will be necessary to revisit . There were a number of hints throughout the finale that the series was at last ready to cast a woman in the role of the Doctor. Hopefully that proves to be the case as the show is indeed ready for that kind of change and it would feel particularly fitting to introduce the first female Doctor along with Chibnall and presumably a new companion. It’s a little disappointing that we’ll have to wait several months before this story reaches its conclusion, and David Bradley’s appearance is fully explained. On the plus side, however, that kind of time will put a lot of distance between the audience and this finale, and it will be interesting to see whether or not this iteration of the Doctor is able to reconnect with his audience and asking them to say goodbye all over again. Doctor Who will return for the Christmas Special on December 2. BBC and BBC America.
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