Doctor Who:
Time Heist
By Steven Moffat and
Steve Thompson
“Shut up. Everybody shut
up. Shut up. Shut up. Shutitty up,up, up!”
I was never a fan of
movies that were centered on robbing banks like the Ocean 11 movies. Well, I take that back I did enjoy both
versions of The Italian Job but never the less I was never a big fan of that
type of movie. So when I saw the trailer
for Time Heist I had reservations about it.
But then I saw who co-wrote it with Steven Moffat and my mind was set at
ease a little bit. I did like Steve
Thompson’s previous work on Who and Sherlock so there’s a chance I will enjoy
Time Heist.
I have to say that Time
Heist was a pretty clever Doctor Who story.
Very entertaining and had me thinking even though I guessed that The
Doctor was The Architect pretty early on in the story. If anything the ease of figuring that out was
the only downer of the story for me. What
I really liked was that they did something different. By having The Doctor rob a bank and he doesn’t
know why he must do it. The whole thing
was one big mystery as to what must be stolen from the bank of Karabraxos. What they end up finding was something that
was more precious than any amount of treasure in the universe.
How they end up getting to
that point of the story was pretty good also.
We have The Doctor, Clara, Psi and Saibra walking around the bank trying
not to get detected by using their skills to break into the most dangerous bank
in the universe. What makes it the most
dangerous is the creature known as the Teller.
The Teller can detect guilt and your plans for robbing the bank by
eating your memories. When he gets
through with you your mind is gone and you are a mindless heap. What was clever was that the four robbers had
their memories wiped so they would not know the plan thus having no guilt and
not being detected by The Teller. But
when they recieved more instructions it got harder for them to keep their guilt
away from The Teller and the chase was on.
Have to admit it was pretty intense watching them running away from The
Teller as there was no escape once he gets you in his mental grips.
What I found to be clever
was the resolution of how everything fitted like a puzzle piece. What I figured early one and wanted to see
how The Doctor got everything in place for the big heist. I liked how they showed The Doctor working it
out using his smarts and coming to a solution.
No waving of the sonic screwdriver around and zapping things to save the
day but using his brains to come up with the solution and making things
right. Just like what he used to do in
classic Doctor Who. It was good to see
the Doctor set things up with Ms. Delphox by playing on her regret for things
she might have done which she eventually does on her death bed as she regrets
keeping The Teller’s companion locked up in a vault. It seems fitting the thing The Doctor would
break into a bank for would not be riches or treasures but for saving an alien
race being held against its will.
Keely Hawes gives a good
performance as Ms. Delphox and her clones and well I’ve always liked Keely
Hawes from her time on Spooks so I’m a little bit biased when it comes to her. Peter Capaldi gives a really good performance
and he is really cementing his Doctor in place now. I’m really enjoying his portrayal as it grows
on me more and more. His sarcastic wit
and dark undertones and brutal honesty make him a Doctor that is far different
from what we have seen so far. I’m really
enjoying it and also his chemistry with Jenna Coleman works really well
especially when they bounce off each other for the funny bits about Clara
getting all dressed up to go on a date.
Time Heist will not go
down as one of the greatest stories as it does have the filler label stuck to
it but it was a very entertaining story that was fun to watch and did have some
moments to make you jump. I was thoroughly
entertained for 50 minutes watching Time Heist and will definitely be giving it
a rewatch from time to time.
Grade B +
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