Review "Mummy on the Orient Express"

"Mummy on the Orient Express" is the eight episode of this season. This episode did nothing for me, it was rather boring. So the Doctor, Clara and some other scientists have the figure out why the Mummy is killing people and why he is there and this was all brought together by an unknown person named "Gus". That has to be the un-scariest name in history. Gus sounds like a car mechanic, not an evil mastermind. Then after all of that, we never find out who Gus is. Disappointing.

"Mummy on the Orient Express" had a decent premise and looked promising, but under delivered. The worse part is watching Clara tell anyone who will listen about her relationship with the Doctor and if she should travel with him anymore. *Yawn*. I need less Clara whining and more Mummy. The Mummy actually looked good. Really good. If they ever reboot the classic Mummy movie franchise, that's how I want the Mummy to look. He was scary and his walk was fantastic.

All New Connection Conjecture

Do you Know this Face?

by Brice Baker

Donna could never remember, the doctor can never forget. In the recent history of Doctor Who, a running (pun intended) theme has been the amount of running, both literal and figurative. The Doctor always runs away from the aftermath of what he has done - never daring to look back at the carnage. Except once. One time, facing a fixed point in time, the most important companion he ever had made him turn around. In the moment he went back to Pompeii, he became more human. He cared for the first time since he was jilted by the loss of Rose. 

Fast forward to the "Stolen Earth". In what should have been wonderful moment, all of his previous companions came together. In the same moment, he saw that he had made them all soldiers. Looking back on what he had done jarred the Doctor to the core. This season has focused on his dislike for soldiers. 

Review of "Kill the Moon"

Sorry for the delay in my review/analysis of the seventh episode from this season, "Kill the Moon". This episode is classic science fiction episode, where we discover that the moon is not really the moon but rather it's an egg. An egg. Let me repeat that, the Moon is an EGG. The Incredible Edible Egg. Ok, so we can't eat this egg. So the Doctor allows Clara, Courtney Woods (I will get to her later) and Lundvick decide what to do with the moon, let it hatch or blow it up. They allow the people of the world to vote on their decision, kind of like Big Brother. Just like American politics, the popular vote doesn't matter and Clara decides for us. Maybe we would be better off if Clara Oswold decided every election for us.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Doctor taking himself out of the decision on whether or not to blow the moon up. I think the Doctor should do this more often. It's not the Doctor's place to decide how humanity lives. He should let us mess up sometimes if we chose to. I totally agree what the Doctor did and for Clara to be so upset at him at the end I think was wrong on her character's part. The other part I really enjoyed was the science fiction part. The whole concept that the moon is an egg is actually pretty cool. We know it's not true, but I wasn't expecting that and never had that idea in my head before this episode. The antibodies looking like spiders was pretty terrifying if you ask me. I hate Spiders and I really hate Moon Spiders.

Connection Conjecture ~ Courtney Woods

The thing I enjoy most about Dr. Who since the reboot is the writing. The way that relatively minor details throughout a season (and sometimes, even many seasons in the past) can come together into something major is amazing storytelling. It always keeps me intent on every line of dialogue, every minor character and every detail in the background. That being said, this week I would like to discuss.....

COURTNEY WOODS

We were introduced to her as a random student in Clara's class in "Deep Breath" when she offered very wise advice to her teacher. Here we see how we need to watch episodes with a mind to the broad story arc of the season and beyond. As of deep breath, she is simply a random nameless student. However, remember--in the Dr. Who universe, people are rarely given lines, especially important ones, without a reason.

Next she pops up , again as a random nameless student, in "Into the Dalek" with one line as she listens in on Danny's conversation with the school secretary. "She wishes" could be a harbinger line for late in the season.

Finally, in "The Caretaker" she literally bursts in as a full fledged character. I would argue that this entire episode was written to introduce us to Courtney, and give her a name. In one episode, we learn her name, meet her parents, see that she is a "disruptive influence" AND she becomes a de facto compaion with ride in the tardis.

Blast from the Past ~ Caves of Androzani

Well, this is where the journey ends for the fifth doctor Peter Davison, and is considered to be one of the best episodes in the Classic Era.

Plot:

As the story opens, the TARDIS arrives on Androzani Minor where the Doctor and his new companion Peri decide to explore some caves and accidentally fall into a seemingly innocent nest which coats them in a white sticky web like substance. As they exit the nest they run into the forces of General Chellak who mistakes them for gunrunners so they are arrested and taken back to the General’s base. The General consults TrausMorgus who is based on Androzani Major and controls the mining interests of a powerful drug called Spetrox. Morgus, unknown to the General hired the gunrunners and orders the Doctor and Peri executed after not recognizing them. As they are being held for execution, the Doctor and Peri begin to feel itchy and see that the areas where they were touched by the sticky web are becoming red and blistered. Before being taken to execution they are captured by Sharaz Jek and replaced by a pair of perfect android duplicates.

Review of "The Caretaker"

After some very good Dr Who episodes this season, Steven Moffat has given us a stinker, called "The Caretaker". I know they can't all be great, but this was pretty big letdown. "The Caretaker" sees the Doctor trying to lure a robot into a school to destroy him. You know how I feel about androids like this. If you used some kind of robot, not named Daleks or Cybermen, you have to have someone who something controlling them. It never works when you just place a robot in a story as the main bad guy. Moffat has done this at least twice this season.

If that wasn't bad enough, most of the episode was the Doctor trying to be funny and eventually finding out who Mr Pink is. When the episode is trying so hard to be funny, like this one did, it falls flat on its face. The Doctor is funny, when you least expect it with a quick jab or joke. This episode was trying way too hard to be funny and it made me yawn.

Lastly, the Doctor finally finds out that Mr Pink is Clara's boyfriend and that he is a "Solider". What happened to the Doctor that he hates soldiers so much? He worked for UNIT for many years on earth and they were soldiers. One of his best friends was Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was in charge of soldiers. So why now all of a sudden is the Doctor so anti-solider? It doesn't make sense. If the Doctor really wants to hate Mr Pink, he should dislike him because he is boring. The only thing he does is bang his head onto a desk or table. Where are the Weeping Angels when you need them?


I give "The Caretaker" a  1.5 Tardi's out of 5. You could have skipped this episode and not missed a thing.