Doctor Who

The curtain closes on Doctor Who series nine with the show’s first three-parter since series three and while it’s not perfect, the extended finale is a fitting end to what has been one of NuWho’s most consistent seasons.

Doctor Who’s season of two-parters carries on with the return of the Zgyons, fan-favorite baddies from the classic series who have reared their suction-cupped heads a few times in NuWho.

With “The Girl Who Died”, the Twelfth Doctor at last has an indicative episode, a story that highlights the very best of this Doctor and the current version of the series.

There’s still room to improve, but “Under the Lake”/“Before the Flood” is the show’s most effective two-parter since the fantastic (if morally problematic) series six premiere.

More Doctor Who? It seems like it. The BBC announced on Thursday that a spin-off to the popular sci-fi series was being developed over at BBC Three with the help of author Patrick Ness. The series will be called Class and is set in present day London and will focus on the activities at the Coal …

Unfortunately, after a fantastic setup, the season nine premiere squanders the goodwill it’s built over much of the hour by falling prey to a tired, and long overdue to be retired, genre cliché: the series-breaking cliffhanger.

Say it ain’t so Clara! The latest companion for the Doctor in Doctor Who is leaving the show in order to join another BBC drama, according to The Daily Mirror. Actress Jenna Coleman has signed a deal to star as Queen Victoria in an eight-part miniseries, forcing her to give up her role as the …

River Song is getting ready to meet the Doctor for Christmas. Variety reported that Alex Kingston, known for her role in Doctor Who as Professor River Song, is set to return to the show for its Christmas special, airing on December 25. This is the first time the actress will appear alongside Peter Capaldi. “To …

Doctor Who has a long history of Christmas specials, but surprisingly few have managed to capture the whimsy of the form while also having enough substance to leave an impression.

Recently, Sound on Sight was given the opportunity to ask comic writer Cavan Scott a few questions about his upcoming Ninth Doctor comic series with Titan Comics. Cavan Scott is the co-author of the bestselling book Doctor Who: Who-Ology as well as the Titan series Penguins of Madagascar. Tori Michel for Sound on Sight: Obviously from …

Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #7 Written by Robbie Morrison Art by Daniel Indro and Color by Slamet Mujiono Covers by Verity Glass and AJ Published by Titan Comics Any Whovian worth their weight in sonic screwdrivers will be able to tell you their favorite Doctor. Telling them that their favorite Doctor is being resurrected, …

It may seem cliche, but everything is truly awesome now with LEGOs. After a hit movie last year, it seems like the company is now digging into pop culture more with Back to the Future and Ghostbusters sets out, but now it will go into the Pixar label as well as one of the most …

In July, a panel of SoS TV editors and critics picked the best episodes of 2014 so far. Here are their picks for the best episodes of the second half of what has been another fantastic year for television. The Honourable Woman, “The Empty Chair” Written by Hugo Blick Directed by Hugo Blick Aired July 3, 2014 …

It seems like Peter Capaldi is ready to take a ride on the TARDIS again, but will Jenna Coleman join him? The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Steven Moffat on Monday about the future of the series and its two stars, and the showrunner was able to answer that question for one of his actors. Moffat confirmed …

Showrunner Steven Moffat has stayed away from two-parters for a while, but as is traditional for Doctor Who, a new Doctor means a fresh start for the show and it’s only fitting that the Twelfth Doctor get the same two-parter blowout end-of-first-series as his predecessors. After a season of teases, Missy is revealed as the latest regeneration of the Master (Missy being a shortening of the Mistress) and she’s come to Earth to turn the entire population of the planet, current and former, into a massive army for the Doctor, so they can be buddies in universal domination. As far as plans go, it makes sense for the Master, even if it is a bit disappointing. Michelle Gomez is fun in the role, particularly in “Death in Heaven*,” but seeing the Master reduced to an agent of chaos, rather than someone with a particular agenda or motivation all their own, feels more appropriate for a mid-season romp than a season-ending two-parter.

Despite its larger arcing issues this season, Doctor Who has had a surprisingly strong year. Each episode has featured entertaining and engaging moments and a good blend of comedy and drama. Even the season’s least substantial episode (“Robot of Sherwood”) still on the whole worked. As a Whovian, this reviewer will give the series many things. The moon is really an egg? Sure. Robin Hood was an actual living person, his persona accurately captured and unchanged by centuries of storytelling? Fine. But a giant, world-wide forest appears overnight, shields the planet from a massive unpredicted solar flare, then disappears into gleams of twinkling light and no one’s going to remember it? Nope. Sorry Who, can’t give you that one.

In their reviews of “The Caretaker” and “Mummy on the Orient Express”, the fantastic Tom and Lorenzo postulated that Clara has become addicted to traveling with the Doctor, showing many of the signs of addict behavior. While this is absolutely the case, and could certainly be part of where showrunner Steven Moffat is planning to take the rest of the season, with “Flatline”, another aspect of Clara and the Doctor’s arcs this season finally becomes clear—Clara is becoming more like the shifty, callous late Eleventh and now Twelfth Doctors, and the Doctor is none too happy about it.

In “The Caretaker”, the Doctor expressed a level of ownership over Clara, demanding an explanation for her relationship with Danny. In “Kill the Moon”, any ounce of paternalism is removed, as a fun and scary adventure on the moon gives way to an exploration of choice, responsibility, and respect.

The episode starts out fairly typically, with the Doctor heading off on an adventure with Clara and Courtney (who he’s accidentally traumatized). There’s a lot to like right off the bat, with the episode switching nimbly from comedy (nice to know there’s an official TARDIS anti-hanky-panky rule, though that might be a post-River addition) to suspense. Writer Peter Harness delivers an entertaining script and director Paul Wilmshurst adds fantastic visual flair to a rather standard monster-in-the-dark story.

Remember when the Doctor was nice? Let’s not even reach that far back: remember when he wasn’t an asshole? “The Caretaker” should be a lighthearted episode, a character-heavy look at what happens when Clara’s two worlds come crashing together. Instead, the episode’s lighter moments are weighed down by the Twelfth Doctor resuming old habits and treating Clara just as disrespectfully as the Eleventh Doctor. After weeks of promising developments (Clara’s front and center in “Deep Breath”, “Robot of Sherwood”, and “Listen”), after thoughtful, honest conversations between the Doctor and Clara and episodes that took their time, with “The Caretaker”, writers Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat put the two right back where they were last season.

After weeks of memorable episodes, series eight of Doctor Who has its first dip with “Time Heist”, which sees the Doctor and Clara embroiled in a bank heist. Despite some fun visual flourishes and production elements, the story itself is underwhelming, failing to commit to or fully explore its promising premise.

Steven Moffat loves childhood fears. He’s mined them for some of nuWho’s most effective villains: Something lurking in the dark (the Vashta Nerada), a threat waiting to pounce the moment you look away (the Weeping Angels), and now, the monster under your bed. These creatures tap into the intense, pervasive fears so many experience as children and like its predecessors, “Listen” is hugely successful drawing from this well. It also takes a common and, when explored, curious habit and exploits it for significant dramatic potential: why do people talk to themselves when no one’s around? Both ideas have been explored by Moffat to some extent already (“The Girl in the Fireplace”, the Silence), and so here he puts them together, hoping that between the two, there’s enough new material to make the story work.

Series eight of Doctor Who has started off with a bang, establishing a new and improved dynamic between the (Twelfth) Doctor and Clara, slowing down the pace, and prizing character work over plot twists. That threatens to falter here, with the series returning to the Doctor Who as fairy tale theme that so heavily infused series five through seven, but fortunately the episode’s sense of humor keeps it on track. “Robot of Sherwood” is a lark, but it’s a self-aware one, with enough pathos peppered in to temper the treacle.

The Daleks aren’t going anywhere, but with massive Whovian Peter Capaldi’s Dalek story out of the way, they’ll hopefully go on hiatus for a while and take their tiresome plot retreads with them, leaving behind the significant structural and character-based improvements demonstrated here. It would seem many of the season eight premiere’s most prudent choices are here to stay; only two episodes into the Twelfth Doctor’s tenure, there’s already a lot to be excited about.