Review of "Extremis" & "The Pyramid at the End of the World"

So I was going to wait to review the whole story of the Monks, but who knew it goes going to be a 3-parter or maybe more? So, I figured I would review the last 2 episodes before I start forgetting what happened. Now I do realize that this review is incomplete, because we really need the rest of the story to accurately review it.

Let's look at "Extremis", which has starts off as a decent story. The Doctor meets the Pope and gets to solve a mystery of why everyone is killing themselves after translating this document called, "Veritas". Then enter the evil looking Monks, who oddly resemble other Dr Who monsters. I think the special effects guy got kind of lazy and made them look kind of like the Mummy in "Mummy on the Orient Express" crossed with the Sycorax from the "Christmas Invasion". After the Doctor finally figures out what is going out, we learn that this is just a computer simulation that the Monks have been running on our planet with hopes of invading. Well, there's 45 minutes that are pretty much meaningless in the Dr Who World. I mean come on, couldn't they have done that in a shorter time?

Dr Who Review "Oxygen"

Growing up as a kid and watching Classic Dr Who Episodes on my local PBS channel, I always enjoyed the episodes where the Doctor and companions were trapped on a space station with no hope of survival. Who can forget the "Ark in Space" with the deadly Wirn? Or "Revenge of the Cybermen", ""The Invisible Enemy"? And the list goes on and on. "Oxygen" is set in that same Classic Dr Who storytelling and it gave us a twist with some fresh ideas.

So the Doctor faces off with Space Zombies, well sort of. He's basically just fighting the suits. But man did those suits put up a fight. I don't recall the Doctor ever overcoming so many obstacles in one episode before. He's running out of air, fighting space suits that with one touch can kill you, his companion is killed (or so we thought) and to top it off he goes Blind! What the hell? That's why I love this episode. 

"Knock Knock" Guest Review by Brice Baker

Knock knock...who's there....Doctor...Doctor Who, that's who. It's my kids' favorite joke and I'm sure was the beginning of the idea for this episode. 

Finally, in a true Who way, we get a story that turns fun into horror then twists into a love story. I think I will cover the plot quickly today then go into some of the questions I was left with. 

"Thin Ice" Review

Well another week, another new Dr Who episode and another Dud. I truly think that Steven Moffat has run out of story ideas. "Thin Ice" was just another remake of  previous Dr Who episodes, but set in a different time period. "The Beast Below" and even "Kill the Moon" have included the same basic story idea. I think Stevan Moffat's biggest flaw is that he only focuses on the season long story, instead of individual episodes. This season has been bad so far. There's no other way to put it. We need some fresh ideas for the show and I hope we get those with a new producer next year.

"Smile" Guest Review by Brice Baker

We should be excited any time we have a brand new monster introduced. I am very happy when we get a break from Daleks, Cybermen and Angels (oh my). Add to that a perplexing oxymoron of a cute smiling happy robot that is apparently scary and I am ready to go. 

Now to the reality. "Smile" was more disappointing to me than "Pilot". I can excuse the first episode since it was basically an (unnecessary) origin story. Origin stories are always full of prose and relatively slow. I was hoping smile would pick up with the twists and excitement. 

I was sorely disappointed again. First thing they did was dispose of the comic genius of Matt Lucas, making 3 part banter impossible. Next we see the tiny bots ala Big Hero Six and the white emoji bot that strongly resembles the robot from Hitchhiker's Guide. 

Review "The Pilot"

 Welcome back Doctor and welcome back East Coast Who fans. Season 10 is finally here with the episode "The Pilot" and I was psyched for it. Then once the episode was over, I said to myself, "I hope it gets better". It wasn't that the episode was bad, it just wasn't memorable. No one is going to look back and say "The Pilot" was my favorite Dr Who episode this season".  It was just bland. I know not all Dr Who episodes have to be memorable, but I honestly forgot what happened the following day and had to re-watch it. Also, some of you are going to say that I need to look at the episode has a part of a bigger story. I believe that you need to view each episode as a whole and not part of a bigger story. Some of the best episode of the new series have been stand alone stories like, Blink & Time Heist.

RIP John Hurt the "War Doctor"

Last week it was announced that prolific actor, John Hurt had passed away at the age of 77. Everyone here at East Coast Who would like to express our condolences to his family. I am also sad that we will not get the whole story of the War Doctor. The whole idea of another incarnation of the Doctor took everyone by surprise. A part of the Doctor's history, that we knew nothing about. Thankfully, we did get to see him in the 50th anniversary episode, "Day of the Doctor" and some recent releases of Big Finish, but I can't help to feel like we only scratched the surface of this Doctor. Maybe Big Finish will cast a younger actor to play a young version of the War Doctor. If you remember when the 8th Doctor regenerated into the War Doctor, he was significantly younger then the version we saw at the end of his regeneration. So there is hope. I encourage everyone to pick up the War Doctor titles over on Big Finish.