DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SERIES NINE

There's one thing about Series Nine that immediately excites me. Even before the stories transmitted, Moff revealed certain facts about the structure of the season that had me practically bouncing off the walls. I was truly ecstatic. This was some of the best news I'd ever heard about an upcoming year of Doctor Who! 

Most of the stories in the season were going to be multi-parters.

I've moaned on many occasions about New Who stories that only last for 46 minutes. So many of them just feel too condensed. I'm  far too used to the "good 'ole days" when the average Doctor Who tale was comprised of four 23-minute episodes that came together to give you a feature-length run. Yes, the plot could drag a bit here and there, but so much more was accomplished in a story of this duration. Characters and concepts could be explored so much more deeply. It was great stuff. One might even say this was a key feature that attracted me to the show.  

Whereas I look at something like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship a few seasons back. I love Solomon in that story. He's a fascinating villain played to perfection by David Bradley. But, because the whole adventure only runs for one episode, we barely got to know him. There was a whole lot more mustache-twirlin' that could have been done before this baddie was sent to the grave. 

Over and over, this sort of thing happens when it's just a one episode tale. Frequently, as ending credits roll, it just feels like there was something I needed more of. With Dinosaurs, it was a villain that needed a stronger presence. But it can be other things. More often than not, it just feels like the plot wasn't given adequate time to develop. We needed the story to breathe a bit more. It all just flashes by too quickly. 

Of course, most seasons do have a few two-parters. Those are usually the stories I enjoy most. Now we're getting the same run-time as an average Classic Who adventure. All the elements I enjoy from an Old Series tale are more likely to appear. So I'm much happier with them. 

So you can imagine how much my spirits soared when I heard how Series Nine was going to be structured. 

"Look at all those two parters!" I exclaimed with drool practically running down my chin, "This is beautiful! I'm gonna love this season!" 

But would I? 

A LONG GLORIOUS START 

For the first five episodes of this season, I was in heaven. The stories that spanned these parts were all fantastic. Not just because of the "proper" run-time that they were being given, but also because they really were just well-produced adventures. 

I seem to recall there were some complaints levelled at Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar. Aside from the titles not really making a whole lot of sense, I can't figure out what the problem was! This was an incredible way to open the season. Not only do those pre-titles completely suck me in, but the rest of the plot kept me engaged, too. I'm especially impressed with how that second episode really slows down for Davros and the Doctor to have a nice chat. And yet, it doesn't feel like it's dragging. I'm genuinely interested in everything these two long-standing foes have to say to each other. 

It was also great to see Missy back so soon. Michelle Gomez plays this incarnation to absolute perfection. She was great in Series Eight, but I was still getting to know her. I even needed to adjust to her since this was the first "true" gender cross that we were seeing in a Time Lord. But, here, I've grown accustomed to her. And I'm falling madly in love with how she's playing the role. I did a BOOK OF LISTS a while back where I ranked my Masters in order of preference and she came in at Number One. I do really enjoy what Sacha did with the part, too (and might still be doing, we'll see what happens with that gold tooth!), but I still think she's my fave. 

I also enjoyed how the whole story almost has a sort of "Remembrance of the Daleks vibe" going on. The Doctor was in control the whole time and was just tricking Davros into using Time Lord powers against himself. It was a great way to end things. And I always love it when he says: "Supreme Dalek, your sewers are revolting!" It never gets old. 

Under the Lake/Before the Flood isn't quite as good as the season opener, but it's still really damn strong. It's a bit of a base-under-siege story. Whenever New Who does one of these, it's crucial that we connect with the supporting cast. Those working in the base need to be excellently-written and well-portrayed. That definitely happens here. There may have been a few other bases where I liked the crew a little better - but not many! 

There's lots of fun stuff going on with time travel, here. Having the Doctor speak directly to the camera in the pre-titles of Before the Flood was one of those controversial choices made by the production team that I was perfectly fine with. It was quite nice to see a Bootstrap Paradox being properly explained. I knew what one was, already, of course. But "the uninitiated" sometimes need that little bit of extra exposition!     

I do like that the deaf character in the story properly serves the plot rather than just ticks some boxes. It also gives us an absolutely terrifying moment where she has no idea a ghost is creeping up behind her while dragging an axe. 

Another thing that really impressed me was that cliffhanger. It adds an absolutely brilliant extra layer to the second half of the story. Having dipped into his future, the Doctor is now racing against his own mortality. Sure, he thought he was going to die in the previous story, too. But this time, he's seeing proof of it! 

And then there's The Girl Who Died. I like how they've mixed things up a bit, here. It's still meant to be the first half of a two-parter, but it's very much self-contained. The Mire are a fun little species of intergalactic conquerors who were really just stopping by to get themselves' some drinks. But things got a bit more complicated because they got their drinks off of Vikings. 

Maisie Williams was quite big when her episodes came out. Which means, of course, that it's a bit more difficult to be objective about her. But it's nice to see that her performance has stood the test of time. She does a great job in all of her episodes. Particularly as she does age. Here, Ashilda is young and idealistic. But she will go through many different stages as she contends with immortality.    

Girl Who Died ends up being a fun little romp with a decent enough plot. It's another great example of the Doctor taking the resources he has readily available and coming up with a great little non-violent solution to the conflict. 

These are five really enjoyable episodes in a row. Once more, I find myself reacting to things in the same way as I did during the latter part of Series Eight. I really am wondering if it's just going to be an excellent season. 

Just as when I hit In the Forest of the Night last year, I'm about to be let down.   

THE FIRST REAL PROBLEM

The Woman Who Lived is our deepest dip in quality during the season. Some would probably differ with me on this and say that status goes to Sleep No More - but I disagree. This one's the worst. . 

I'm not sure why there's even an A Plot. It's so insubstantial it might as well have not been there. It's mainly just Ashilda and/or Me bemoaning immortality over and over and yelling at the Doctor for not taking her away with him in the TARDIS. Which is a shame, really. The alien she's in league with seemed quite interesting. But he's only in the actual narrative for about four minutes!

I'm also confused over how the Mire's med pack actually makes Me immortal. I can see it, maybe, prolonging her life substantially. She lives for a century. Two, at best. But keep her alive forever?  That's a Hell of a med pack! Ultimately, I would assume something of this nature just repairs wounds when they happen, not keep someone from aging until all the way to the End of the Universe. I'm guessing it has something to do with using advanced technology on a primitive being. Or something of that nature. A little bit more explanation would have been nice. 

I never realized it till my latest re-watch, but that final conversation between the Doctor and Me at the pub really, really drags. It probably doesn't run for half the time that the Doctor and Davros' talk lasts. But, this time, there's nothing all that compelling going in the discussion. Me finally realizes why the Doctor won't let her travel with him. That's great. Can something more interesting happen, now, please?!    

The story still isn't a total failure. Most of it rests on the shoulders of Williams and Capaldi and they are ridiculously talented actors. Their performances do manage do gloss over some of the inherent problems in the writing. The Gallows Humor is also quite fun. Especially since it actually accurately depicts what could sometimes happen at a public hanging. A criminal could stay alive longer if he kept the crowd laughing. 

But still, The Woman Who Lived kills Series Nine's winning streak. 

A FEW MORE PROBLEMS 

Since we're discussing a negative point, there are just a few more issues I'm having with the season that I should probably bring up: 

1. The Retconning is starting to get tiresome. Or, more specifically, a certain type of retconning. Suddenly claiming that something was going on within the Lore of the show that we'd seen no hints of until that moment is happening just a bit too often. Like when the Master claims he's been hearing drum beats in his head all his life. RTD does end up writing in to the script of End of Time that the Master has been hearing the drums more intensely, of late. But you'd still think Delgado or Ainley or even Beevers, at some point, would have brought this up during the Classic Series. It only appears when the plot suddenly needs it. 

The Retcon we get in Series Nine that gets a bit under my skin is the surprise revelation that the Doctor left Gallifrey for a secret reason. He knew too much about the Hybrid. Again, you'd think the Time Lords' interest in such a doom-ladened prophecy would have surfaced sooner. During Arc of Infinity. for instance, Borusa should have said something to the nature of: "Before we kill you by pouring a bunch of dry ice vapor on you, let's talk about that Hybrid thingy for a minute..."

But no such thing happens. Until this season, of course. Now people can't stop talking about the Hybrid! Which brings us to our second point: 

2. This is definitely one of the clunkier season arcs. People forcibly saying stuff about Torchwood throughout Series Two is still the worst. But this one's comparable. The Doctor suddenly remarking on every little thing that can even vaguely qualify as a hybrid gets old pretty fast. 

Of course, we'll get to how the arc is resolved (or, more accurately, not resolved) as we reach the finale.  

3. It does look like we are getting the character arc that was, originally, intended for the Sixth Doctor. Twelve really does soften in his second season. Unfortunately, it all happens too fast. Or, apparently, it happened offscreen between seasons. Or something like that. 

At the beginning of Mysterious Planet, we can see that the Doctor is being nicer to Peri. But when she asks something like: "Is there any intelligent life on this planet?" He answers with "Apart from me, you mean?" 

"Oh good!" I remark to myself, "He's more pleasant this year but that arrogance from Season 22 is still there!"

This is known as good character progression. Six doesn't change overnight. It's going to take time before he really seems like a genuinely swell guy. 

We seem to get the exact opposite with Twelve. A man who seems to almost have an allergic reaction to hugging is suddenly wrapping Clara in the warmest of embraces. Yes, I understand that he feels certain he's about to die. So he's bound to be a bit more emotional than usual.  But the character evolution occurs far too quickly. 

The writers do seem to pull back a bit on the charm in subsequent episodes and Twelve's inability to connect with others gets played up a bit more. The flash cards Clara gives him work great to achieve this. This seems more like a character who has problems socializing and is working on it. Unfortunately, the opening story of the season really messes with the overall flow of this particular arc. The Doctor still could have been a bit overemotional when coming to terms with his mortality, but not as much as Moff made him. It just didn't feel natural. 

SOME MORE TERROR FROM THOSE ZYGONS 

Things do get back on track with the Zygon two-parter. It's essentially, the Silurian story we never got. Humanity, at last, learns to share the planet. 

There's only one real problem I have with The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion. It's a simple issue of logistics. I do think it's cool that Zygons are now meant to be living secretly amongst us. But 20 million seems like a bit too much to keep hidden. It's a bit like how every third person in Harry Potter is meant to be a wizard but we still don't know that they exist. When a secret society reaches a certain size, it becomes impossible for them to remain concealed. Even a few thousand Zygons seems like something feasible. You can set up a remote colony here and there and most would be none-the-wiser. But it's just too big a number of Zygons to make such a feat believable. 

I also have to assume that a Zygon's shape-shifting ability has reached a point where it can now come up with original forms.  Up until this story, they were just copycats. I don't think it's possible for 20 million duplicates to exist in the world without people noticing! Just like that Mire med pack, a bit more explanation would have been nice. 

But, really, I don't want to complain too much, here. This is another really great two-parter. Very cleverly-written with an anti-war sentiment that doesn't completely clobber you over the head. Even though there's a nice gigantic speech about it. 

Which is, of course, the highlight of the story.  Once more, a huge risk is taken by bringing all the action to a grinding halt so that the Doctor can rant for a bit. Like the chat with Davros, it succeeds beautifully. If not for Heaven Sent, this would probably be the most memorable part of the season. 

I do seem to recall some fans saying that they don't think Capaldi nailed the speech quite as well as he could have. You're welcome to that opinion, of course, if you feel that way. Personally, though, I think you're on drugs! 

FOUND FOOTAGE

It's difficult for me to be objective about Sleep No More. I have this very strange fetish for Found Footage. While I am not a huge Horror Nerd, I seem to surround myself with them. Several close friends and even someone I was in a serious relationship with has made me sit through a lot of horror movies. Found Footage was, essentially, born within this genre and did quite a bit to save it. Horror was becoming overproduced and the style of Classic films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre had died. Found Footage was very raw and visceral like those old movies had been and, therefore, brought back some of that appeal. Which, in turn, impacted the whole industry. 

Now, I'm not a total addict. I haven't sat through Paranormal Activity 18. But the original was pretty damned good. And I have even gone all the way back to watch Cannibal Holocaust. Which many consider to be the first film made in this style. I actually don't recommend you see it unless you've got a strong stomach! 

Anyhow, enough digression into the history of a subgenre - I think you get my point. Sleep No More could be absolute garbage but I'm going to have a hard time not liking it because I really do enjoy Found Footage. I absolutely love the risk the story takes by using that format. In order to remain faithful to the style, it becomes the first Doctor Who story ever without a title sequence. 

This is a Mark Gatiss story that definitely fits in the "Strong" Category. It goes in several different interesting directions and has the most beautiful of twists at the end. Rassmussen turning to dust is an absolutely haunting image. 

I do seem to recall quite a few complaints about the whole tale from fans. The general impression is that they didn't like an episode being made in such a manner. The plotting in a Found Footage film can seem very awkward. It's a story that's being told from a very specific perspective and you have to sort through the clumsiness of such a thing. That's actually meant to be part of the fun of watching this kind of entertainment. But, if you haven't had a lot of experience with the genre, I can see how this might be a problem. 

Or, perhaps, Sleep No More is just a bad story. As I said, I can't really be objective about it so it's difficult for me to tell! 

MESSING JUST A BIT WITH THE STORY ORDER 

Putting a single-parter in the season allows us, of course, to enjoy a three episode finale. 

Thus far, I've been trying to review Series Nine stories in a chronological order. Just to make things a bit easier for analysis. I'm going to change the order of things, slightly. We'll get through the stuff that was "just okay" and then finish out on a high note. 

Face the Raven was a solid start to the finale. I wouldn't say it was particularly spectacular - but decent. Considering it's just the first episode of a three-part epic, it doesn't need to be much more than just pretty good. This way, the whole story has somewhere to go. 

It's a fairly straightforward premise that has just enough content to fill its run-time. Maisie Williams continues to do interesting things with her character. Always keeping in mind that several centuries have passed since the last time we saw her so Me needs to seem different each time. She's not the cold person we saw in Woman Who Lived, but she still has some harsh edges to her. 

Of course, the conclusion for the episode is completely brutal. If this really had been the end of Clara, it would have been a great way for her to go out. 

Most people don't seem very happy with Hell Bent. I can sympathize with a lot of that sentiment. But I also think there's a fair amount to like here, too. 

The Spaghetti Western vibe that it goes for during its first chunk is quite fun. I even quite liked that Rassilon got kicked off of Gallifrey. He seemed a pleasant fellow in The Five Doctors but the Time Wars had definitely turned him into a jerk. He's also a nice hanging plot thread that someone can pick up on again later if they want. He's out there, somewhere. Hating the Doctor. He could seek revenge someday and it would be nice to see what he might try. 

I would even say that all the stuff involving Time Lord society was quite enjoyable. Those Cloisters were interesting to examine and also quite creepy. And it's hard not to love seeing an Old School white-roundelled TARDIS console room. All of this was a great time. 

But, once more, Moff seems to be trying to subvert expectations a bit in the final episode of the season. I had thought Hell Bent would have been about the Doctor tearing through the Citadel and exacting a sort of revenge on the High Council for killing Clara and torturing him in his own Confession Dial. And we did get some of that. But it's the Doctor's ulterior motive that I feel really damages the whole plot. He wants to save Clara. Which is a beautiful gesture. But it means that Moff is now taking a page I don't particularly like from RTD's book. He's making us a think a companion is dead when they really aren't. 

I'm not sure why it's such a huge obsession to do this sort of thing with companions in New Who. Every second or third one seems to have to go out this way. It was absolutely traumatic when we lost Adric in the early 80s. I was even okay when they faked Peri's death a few seasons later. Back then, it was an original idea to write a companion out that way. But to now be doing it on a regular basis gets old really fast. Either kill off a companion properly, or have them exit the series in a different way. But stop doing the "I Guess They Weren't Really Dead, After All" Routine, please! 

The final discussion the Doctor and Me have about the nature of the Hybrid is probably my other really big issue with this episode. I'm all for a writer creating certain levels of ambiguity in their storytelling. That's fine. But sitting around for ten minutes and making all sorts of allusions about what the Hybrid could actually be didn't really work for me. If we're going to dwell on it that much, then we needed an actual solid answer to the question. As I've said several times already in this Review: More explanation was required. 

Other than that, though, Hell Bent was passable. A bit of an anti-climax but still fairly good. Some fans seem to see this one as a giant flaming turd but I don't think it's that bad. A slightly disappointing season finale but we've had much worse!    

CHRISTMAS SPECIALS 

After Series Nine, we get a bit of a "gap year" where Moffat is too busy with Sherlock. This results in two Christmas Specials back-to-back with no Series Ten in between. I remember Who fans being a bit disappointed with this. But Sherlock fans had to endure something similar!    

To make things easy, I'll just review both of the Specials, here. 

Both The Husbands of River Song and The Return of Doctor Mysterio represent a dip in quality for Christmas Specials. Which becomes especially noticeable when The Snowmen and Last Christmas were really quite good. The biggest problem for both of them is a flaw I see in a lot of Doctor Who stories that are trying to be a bit more comedic: 

They're just not doing all that good of a job at actually being that funny. 

All the actors in both stories are doing their damnedest to get the jokes to land. And they do succeed in some places. But, overall, it's not the best material to work with. Probably the greatest example of this is that point in Husbands of River Song where Moff actually has the Doctor apologize for making an unfunny comment. I guess you'd call this sort of thing "lampshading" - a term associated with bad comedy writing. Basically, you put dialogue in that openly acknowledges that the comedy is poor. This, somehow, now makes things funny. Essentially, Moff needed to give the Doctor a legitimately amusing line in that moment. Or he should have just had him run away silently from the short-circuiting robotish/cyborgy thing. 

The scripts are littered with this sort of stuff. The River Song Tale also brings back that old trick from Runaway Bride. Murray Gold delivers a whole bunch more farty-sounding trumpet music to try to enhance the hilarity. Like the last time, the effort fails. Doctor Who Producers, please learn this lesson: Farty-sounding trumpet music will not save your comedy script. Only good writing will!    

The stories aren't total crap. Husbands of River Song does deliver a crucial moment in her Lore. It is great to finally witness her last night with the Doctor. The subplot of River coming to terms with her mortality is nicely done. Return of Doctor Mysterio has some nice charm to it. Its plot also flows much better than Husbands. 

Overall, though, it does feel like Moff made a bad decision in this gap year. If he was so busy with Sherlock, he should have just hired someone else to write the Christmas Specials. 

BEST EPISODE EVER 

Heaven Sent really is the best episode ever (to me, at least: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/01/book-of-lists-top-6-best-episodes-part-1.html). As usual, just in case you bother to click the link and read that Review, I'll try to come up with new stuff to say. 

One thing I never remarked on in the other Review was just how much things rest on Capaldi's shoulders, here. He has to wander around a castle yelling at the air. He also has all those high energy scenes in the console room with nothing but the back of Clara's head to converse with. There's even all that terrified acting that he has to accomplish with giant fingers wiggling in his face. It's not easy to do all that sort of stuff by yourself. Sustaining an entire 46-minute episode with no one else to really play off of is a momentous task.

And yet, he makes it all look so easy. He wanders through those corridors having protracted conversations with himself (sometimes in voice-over, sometimes "in real life") and we're engaged by the whole thing. Even him sitting around eating a bowl of soup holds our interest!

It's also great just how much Heaven Sent allows us into the Doctor's head. Not just with the imaginary console room scenes, but the whole puzzle castle really shows us what he's like without a companion to keep him in check. He dives into the rabbit hole of working out how his trap works with no restraint. In some ways, he almost seems happy with the situation. Not just because it distracts him from his grief.  

Well, that was about all the stuff I could come up with that I didn't say in my previous Review. Now I'm going to re-emphasize some important points:    

The whole concept of Heaven Sent is completely brilliant. Placing the Doctor in this bizarre location and having him slowly figure out why he's there is an absolute wonder to behold. The whole process of realization is paced perfectly. At the same time, I love how the plot is also interspersed with the Doctor dealing with his grieving process. It's a thing of sheer magnificence. Great writing from Moff. Great directing from Talalay. And great acting from Capaldi. It's, pretty much, a perfect piece of television. 

And then there's those last few minutes where we finally see what the Doctor's really been up to the whole time. Four Billion years smashing through a wall. It's such a great solution to the conflict that, at the same time, shows off the Doctor's spirit and determination. He defeats his foes with intelligence. No matter how much patience it may require of him. It's a genuinely inspiring message. 

And this is why I messed just a bit with the story order. We've got a few episodes that are tricky to deal with. There's flaws to them that need to be discussed. I wanted my love for this episode to not be cluttered with some of the negativity surrounding it. So I brought it here to give it better attention. 

Now all that's left is come to a final conclusion about the season. 

FINAL CONCLUSION

Just like my Review, I wish Moff had found a way to make Heaven Sent the final episode of this period. It would have been nice if Hell Bent had immediately followed Face the Raven. But then, at the end of Doctor Mysterio, Nardole turns to the Doctor and says something like: "Hey! I heard this crazy rumor that you were stuck in your Confession Dial for a bit?! What happened with that?!" And the Doctor replies: "Here! I'll show you!" And then he puts that weird headband on his head again like he did at the end of Wheel In Space and Nardole watches the whole adventure on the scanner screen. 

Or something to that effect, at least. Maybe the segue could be a bit less clunky and obvious!  

If Heaven Sent had finished out the season, I would have legitimately been able to overlook quite a bit of this year's problems. For the simple reason that my last impression of this current cycle of stories would have been so much better than what we got. Instead, however, we get a mediocre season finale and then some Christmas Specials that are a bit lackluster. We also get a season-long arc that doesn't work all that well. It feels very forced in places and lacks a particularly satisfactory resolution. 

But the format! The format is absolutely wonderful. So many of the multi-part stories are quite good. It's great to not have to rush through an adventure. To allow time for characters to develop and plots to play out at a pace that doesn't need to be breakneck. This is what saves Series Nine from being a genuinely "bad" season. Instead, it's merely "troubled in places". 

I wish Moff had created a few more seasons using this format. Fortunately, much of what he does deliver is still quite strong even when it is only one episode long. 

But multiple seasons packed full of two-parters would have been absolutely glorious.