"Orphan 55" Review

I didn’t know if I would make it, but I’m back for a 2^nd week of reviewing Season 12 of Dr Who. “Orphan 55” gives me a bunch mixed feelings. On one hand, the story is decent but on the other hand the execution of it was horrible. I honestly think this episode was a little better than “Spyfail”, but is this what Dr Who has become? A mediocre show that if not for its long rich history, I would have turned off a long time ago.

"Orphan 55" sees the Doctor and crew taking a vacation (does this ever work out for the Doctor and his/her companions?) to a relaxing spa that just so happens to have a slight problem of flesh eating creatures trying to break into it on a constant basis. The story premise itself was not bad per say, but this was so rushed and frantic that it took away from the story itself. There is no buildup of a threat, we are just thrown right into the threat right away. I know Dr Who is only an hour show, but maybe cut out some of those chase scenes and we might actually have a good episode here. Unfortunately, that's not what happens here. Instead it felt like as soon as they got off the Tardis, the crew are running for their lives or chasing after someone. Slow down!!!!

Spyfall Parts 1 & 2 Review

I'm back and better then ever. Last season, I didn't even review the finale because I just couldn't do it anymore. I watched it and actually kind of enjoyed it, but I couldn't write about Dr Who anymore. Season 11 was so bad, it just about killed my love for the show. Even people who love everything about the new Doctor and the show, admit that season 11 was a little lacking. "Lacking" is an understatement.

So after over a year and I am finally able to wash the taste of season 11 out of my mouth, I'm ready to give it another try with season 12. It's time to watch Spyfall .... and..... shoot me now. Spyfail, I mean Spyfall tries to combine Dr Who with James Bond and by "combining it",  I mean just give it a James Bond title and that's basically it. There is hardly anything even remotely resembling a James Bond movie in these episodes. There is some James Bond weapons that they don't even try and use until episode 2, but that's basically it.

Season Review by Brice Baker

I started writing these articles because of my love of how uniquely Doctor Who could connect storylines from episode to episode, season to season and decade to decade. I thought I’d use that to help explain a bit about this season. Bear with me—wibbly wobbly.

I had two problems with Peter Capaldi’s reign as the Doctor, Clara and his sudden fixation on getting to Gallifrey. I think I have finally wrapped my head around both of these in one neat bundle...by going back to his first appearance. In “The Day of the Doctor,” he saves the planet and all of the inhabitants by placing them in a picture, essentially a pocket universe. Due to the crossing of timelines, The Doctor couldn’t realize this until his 11th incarnation. Instead, the Timelords hid away and allowed him to believe he had destroyed them. Soon after that, they forced him into a sort of prison on the planet “Chistmas” as he simultaneously protected them from the hoards of evil monsters and prevented them from returning for hundreds of years. Once again, Clara saved his life and bargained for a new set of regenerations for him.

Fast forward to “Face the Raven,”and he can’t prevent the death of Clara after all of the times she has saved him. Not only could he not protect her, but her death was in a way at the hands of the Timelords. Realizing what was going on, when he was teleported in “Heaven Sent,” he used her memory to keep his sanity for over 4 billion years and formulated a way to save her and hold Rasillon accountable for her death.

The next season is spent, in large part, protecting Missy, whom he now understands more and sees as his last chance at a family. The Doctor also takes on Bill as a companion when he sees a spark in her, however we don’t know how many years he spent as a professor before he accepts her. We can assume it took him a very long time to trust himself again. Suddenly, yet another is taken from him by the very person he was sworn to protect. Yet another failure in his part.

We can finally understand his not wanting to regenerate again. The Good Doctor has failed a loved one again. He had always sworn to bring his companions back safely and now has had multiple losses. He is done, but in seeing his previous incarnation, he gains hope for trying again.

However, this hope includes a complete break from the past. New everything, with no direct connections to the past. And seeking a new family, not necessarily companions but a family the (s)he had lost so many times.

Review "The Witchfinders"

Well, it's time for another Dr Who review. Sorry for the recent delays in reviews. I have been having computer trouble and getting ready next weekend to move into my new house. I'm looking forward to having my own Dr Who room. With that being said, let's get to "The Witchfinders". Oh, crap. I'm bored already.

I seriously was bored during this whole episode. There wasn't anything in this episode, that really caught my attention. It was another bland villain with a bland backstory and to top of it off another bland performance by Jodie Whittaker. I seriously think this season has been the worst season of villains, we have ever seen. I understand that they are trying to stay away from the old favorite villains like the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans to just name a few, but there's a reason that they have turned up over and over in Dr Who. They are POPULAR! They have an interesting back, history with the Doctor and finally they are beloved by fans. I think it's great they are trying to make new villains, but the villains they have created have had the personality of bubble wrap. Oh wait, we actually got an episode with evil bubble wrap in it. (shaking my head).

The whole time I was watching this, I was thinking to myself "Why didn't they air this during Halloween?" But then I thought, "Well, maybe the UK does not celebrate Halloween." I did a little Google search and yes the UK celebrates Halloween on October 31st, just like us. What idiot does not schedule a Dr Who episode with witches in it around Halloween? Oh, I would assume that would be Chris Chibnall. Whoever made the decision to air this episode at the end of November, should be fired.

I will give "The Witchfinders" a 2 out of 5 Tardises, Someone asked me at work what I thought about this season and I summed up the whole season so far in one word, "Ok". That pretty much sums up the whole season. Nothing has been great (Brice, "Kerblaam" was not great), everything has been, well...."Ok".

Review "Kerblam" by Brice Baker

It finally happened. Like scratching that lottery ticket and winning $100, we finally got a Doctor Who episode this season. We’ve had decent ones and painful ones, but with "Kerblam", we finally have a real one.

First, we have links to the past that we haven’t really seen up to now. The fez was obvious but welcomed and the Agatha Christie comment was icing on the cake. Next, we have the Doctor blundering into a situation without any plan. She actually gets in the way by overthinking things when the system initially puts her in custodial. It was much more of a fluid situation which she had to adapt her plans to on the fly as opposed to "Rosa" and "Demons of Punjab", where she was basically protecting a forgone conclusion. Also, The companions were real active in parts of the plot instead of being sent away on some unrelated side quest. And finally, the thing that put it over the top for me was the twist. Making a common item scary or dangerous is a long tradition (Autons and Angels to name a few), and lethal bubble wrap just adds to this. I don’t know if it was an intentionally homage to the green bubble wrap monsters in arc in space, but I like to think it was.

In other words, this episode had a nice mix of mystery, fun, history and some relevance to today, as a good episode should. Without hitting us over the head with it. I’ll give it 4.5 out of 5 Tardises.

Review "Demons of the Punjab"

It's that time again to review the newest Doctor Who episode and I'm sure I will hate it.  And..... I didn't hate it. There's a first for me. I know most of you think I will hate everything this new Doctor does, but that's not true. Actually, there were other episodes that I liked, but it always ended up being my partner in crime, Brice Baker's turn to review it.  So here's my chance. Now, let's not get carried away. I didn't love this episode, but it was Ok. 

Review "The Tsuranga Conundrum"

We are onto episode 5 of this season and thank goodness, there were no spiders in this episode. "The Tsuranga Conundrum" features the Doctor and her companions on board a medical ship that is being eaten by a small creature called a "Pting", who has an insatiable appetite for energy and will stop for nothing to devour all of it. Plus as an added obstacle, if they deviate the ships' path the people controlling it will blow it up. Sounds like a pretty juicy episode, right? WRONG!

This episode was a complete waste. First they make the baddie, the Pting look like a cute little chubby creature that you might want to snuggle with. Not that menacing. I know why Chris Chibnall created the Pting like this, because he always wants to be different and do unconventional things. But there's a reason why you don't make the monster a cute a little creature, because it doesn't work.