This may be one of a few occasions where I break from my usual review format and go straight to Reviewer Cut mode and also refrain from giving out a number rating this time around. There's a little to love about Kill The Moon but there's a whole lot to dislike about it. For instance, the first act, where Clara goes into a fit over the Doctor saying Courtney's not special....Clearly no one's ever seen that video of the speech read by a Boston, MA High School Teacher to the graduating class of 2012.


This and another fit at the end of the episode is where I finally condemned Clara Oswald as my pick for worst companion More on that, later on. Of course in order to save face with Clara and the child, he takes them both to the Moon only to encounter another expedition who were prepared to shoot their would be intruders. The moment where 12th was like kill, these two first then me (but I'll regenerate) smack of the worst of Twin Dilemma sans the regeneration crisis (remember those?). I may finally coming to understand how viewers felt in January-March of 1985 where great actor has to fight off material venering on the mediocre to the daft. It seems with Series, 8 and its material (leaked or not) shown so far that those promises Steven Moffat declared were just smokescreens for more of the same..

The story's dilemma focus's on the tough decision of destroying the Moon only to learn mid way that the Moon is actually an egg... I know about suspention of disbelief but this stretch that card to it's limit. Plus the line of "first woman on the moon" reaked of revisionist history considering various Moon stories that came before (namely the Moonbase and Smith & Jones). I reeally wanted to like the idea but it just doesn't seem to work. Even when we're told the Moon would hatch in 2049 managed to gain a depressive sigh from me. Adding insult to injury, that this goes further in the pro-life-pro-choice athmosphere which makes for uneasy viewing.

Back to Clara and 12th, I'm on the fence on the riff. I was willing to side with her about another round of Doctor-dickery (move over, Super-dickery of the Silver Age) until she mentioned wanting to slap him again. That's where I had to side with 12th. If you're not tired of seeing the Doctor getting punched and slapped around by know, either you have more patience than yours truly or you just just enjoy the abuse. Not sure if the Christmas rumor is true or not but I'll be very glad to see her go. As for Courtney, I'll come right out and say it: She wasn't too bad here. Even if you feel her presence is tact on and unneeded, she wasn't moody like Angie Maitland (I tried to excuse her behavior in Nightmare in Silver with that she's going through puberty before realizing that had that story been with Victorian Clara and her charges as originally intended, the outcome would remain the same). She's indeed what most kids would normally do when travelling, post pictures on Tumblr and got to experience the wonder of the universe beautiful and scary. You can tell I'm not so harsh on child characters and child actors unlike the majority of fandom.

On that note, Kill The Moon is one that inspire criticism (much well deserved) for it's plot and moreso its execution. I thought we'd have a good episode on out hands but the episode itself doesn't know whether its a good one or a flimsy messy one.

NEXT WEEK: Doctor Who & the Goosebumps Mummy!

Tedious as it is stupid.

Tired of Clara being inserted into the Doctor's past. Friggin' enough is enough!! Capaldi deserves better material than this dross (as does the audience)

"This is Clara, not my assistant…She's...some other word...."
"I'm his carer"
"Yeah, my carer. She cares so I don't have to."

Another Saturday, another new episode. Though this is no ordinary episode as it involves the Daleks. Since 2005 we've had TV Dalek stories that varied from sublime (Dalek,) to limp (Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks) to simply a 45 minute toy commercial (Victory of the Daleks), to twistsing about (Asylum of the Daleks). Here comes the Phil Ford effort, Into the Dalek. Ford, a fan darling with the co-penned and widly praised Waters of Mars five years before, takes another spin in the TARDIS with a tale that not only give Skaro's pepperpotted monsters their bite back but also asks the same question as the Doctor: Is he a good man? Let's get down to business, eh?

The Good:

-Journey Blue, Journey Blue! She's has the shades of a potential companion in every way.
-12th facing down his Dalek patient leading to his surprised reaction to it saying all Daleks must die.

-The introduction of Danny Pink. With an older Doctor about, Clara's now given a love interest; one with a conflicting past he's hesitant to talk about.
-"No, You are a good Dalek". A wee callback to the lone Eccleston season's Dalek
-Dat chalkboard!
-The music's tone down! Who are you and what have you done with the real Murray Gold?
-The production design of the inside the Dalek is utterly sublime
-We finally get more of 12's personality which gives us the cold, distant nature not seen since the 1st Doctor's characterization in the unaired pilot version of An Unearthly Child. "He was dead already " response to Russ' demise by the Dalek spores does harken back to 7th during the New Adventures days as he back then saw many a death at his own door step especially in the grand scheme of his own machinations much to the chagrin of Ace and a host of others.
-Finally after four year dryspell, we got the Daleks exterminating again on screen

The Bad


-The Coal Hill student's contunation of asking Pink whether he killed as soldier. Change the record, squirt!
-Gretchen's save via Missy. It's not going to be an all season thing is it? I'm getting shades of Kovarian to some exent and I wasn't exactly taken in with her the three years before.

-Journey's request to come with the Doctor being denied. One can hope for another Liv Chenka like situation that paves for her coming back in future, who knows?

Bottom Line: Into the Dalek earns it stripes as the finest post 2005 televised Dalek story in the revival's eight year run. Giving an freshing tale of morality and the heavy nature of evil that answers its question but draw more questions to come out the woodwork. Onward, Robots of Sherwood!

Now, after 10 months of waiting (and for yours truly four month of waiting, schooling and working) we finally get to usher in Peter Capaldi's reign as the 12th Doctor. We kick off the new era with the premiere episode Deep Breath. The episode begins in Victorian London where we find its citizens and the overused Paternoster Gang (Strax, Vashtra and Jenny Flint) witness a T-Rex wandering about only to spit out a certain blue box launged in its throat. The trio went to the TARDIS only to run into a silver haired man with a chilling glare instead of a fresh faced young man and Clara still in shock about the regeneration she witness. However, things take a turn when the newly regenerated Doctor investigates who brought the Dinosaur in to the time perior and why they killed it. So how does this new Doctor debut fair compared to the previous?

The Good:


*Peter Capaldi- Right from him popping his head through the TARDIS doors is fantastic. Like the first three before him you know he's not human but still passionate when injustice is caused. Plus his costume is sublime and I can expect many a cosplay (and the risks of buying a 800 pounds Crombie coat).

*The new titles based on the fanmade YouTube video that caught the BBC's eye

*Strax throwing the newspaper at Clara's head. Gif, anyone?

*Cyan, no more! After seven years, they've finally chose a different color for the console core.

*The showdown between 12th and the Clockwork Robot

*The new theme music

*Clara being assured via phone by 11th (cameo by Matt Smith) that he's still the same man; only he's not the hugging type. Jenna Coleman really acted her butt off here to where the scene feels stronger than Rose coming to terms with 10th back in the Christmasn Invasion

*The Nethersphere arc does seem to be the main arc for the season plus the mystery of its Gatekeeper Missy (Michelle Gomez)


The Bad:


*Clara's struggling with coming to terms with the regenerations and missing 11th; the most glaring plot hole ever have seen the last ten faces prior to him (ignoring the two unnecessaries who shant be named). It was like Moffat made her a soundbite of the multiple Tumblrs who express their ageism toward our new Doctor for not being younger.

*The worn out welcome of the Paternoster Gang. The novelty pretty much started to wear thin beginning with The Crimson Horror and still does here. Plus the fight scene was naff to where it really should've been trimmed down considerably. Try as he might with them, Steven Moffat will never get the trio a spin-off.

*No middle 8 in the theme until the next live performance at Proms (again!)

*The T-Rex now predating the events of Invasion of the Dinosaurs. More to the point, why was it there and why were the Clockwork Robots interested in killing it?

*The following words "boyfriend" and "husband" should be banned.

*"Clara the egomaniac" running gag mid-way


Bottom Line: Deep Breath on its own stands up with a now darker Doctor and beginning a new arc that's not rewriting time and and having our hero chase his own tail throughout his entire existence in the process. However, it suffers from extra screentime for the Paternoster Gang to where it feels more like a backdoor pilot to a spin-off rather than a new Doctor debut story with the leads as the guest star. Maybe this will be the last time we have the trio turn up again. Then again, this is Steven Moffat.

6/10 Jelly Babies


DISCLAIMER: No dinosaur was harmed during the making of this episode