Doctor Who - The Caretaker Review - Some Spoilers

Review by Ken Parker

Doctor Who, like many good TV shows often have two or more stories going on at the same time. We have the surface story that often involves a weaker written structure that may keep younger kids happy with monsters, explosions and action. Then there are the underlying ideas that are generally character orientated. "The Caretaker" is about a killing machine let loose near Coal Hill School and the Doctor tries to stop it. The underlying story involves Clara, Danny Pink and the Doctor. Can the three of them get along long enough to stop the alien threat?

Some Spoilers

Doctor Who - Listen Review (Spoilers)

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After a few episodes with some lighter hearted moments, the trailer for Listen got a lot of people excited for a scarier and more sinister episode. so far series 8 seems to have divided fans, a few finding it hard to take to a new actor playing the lead role, and complaining about the writing, and the rest enjoying the ride. There has been a lot of talk across the social networks of people debating if we were going to see some familiar foes in this episode, and what we could expect to see from Danny Pink......

Doctor Who - Robot of Sherwood - Review (some spoilers) - UPDATED

Review By Ken Parker

Why does Doctor Who always have bad episodes each season? I guess all the variety of writers and settings and stories automatically leads to some stories not being right for everyone. Each of us has our own likes and dislikes. Where does “Robot of Sherwood” fall for you?

For me it appeared from the trailers that we were in for the first dud of the season. Silly hijinks and other trappings associated with the overused tale of Robin Hood could easily lead to a below par episode but was there enough gold to lift the story up above mediocrity?

I watched this episode once before reviewing it initially and after watching it again I added a few observations and changed my mind about a few things.

Doctor Who Review - Deep Breath (Spoilers)

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It feels like series 8 had already started a month ago. Lots of interviews with Peter Capaldi in numerous magazines, the World Tour and of course, the customary excitement across the social networks.

We have grown to expect a lot of media interest just before a new series, but this year its been bigger, and thats possibly due to Peter himself.

I remember receiving an email from the BBC last autumn, inviting me to take part in a survey for Doctor Who. I recall a question, asking me if I thought Peter was too old for the role. What? Seriously? is that really relevant? Unfortunately, for some people this has obviously been an issue. To quote a few articles I have read recently, both David Tennant and Matt Smith have been described as "Boyfriend Doctors". This has been down to their age and good looks, and in my opinion, some of the unnecessary soap opera writing that has unfortunately turned a once asexual main character, into a science fiction stud to satisfy those in the audience who crave romance. Therefore, the BBC knew they would need to justify the massive change expected in series 8, and allow the younger generation of fans to experience the Doctor in a more 'Classic Who' style. Their need to justify this completely dominated the first episode.

Doctor Who - Nightmare in Silver Review - (Some Spoilers)

Review by Ken Parker

Sometimes you look forward to things so much that there is no way they will ever reach those bloated expectations. Look at the facts. Despite some fan opinion that this last half of season 7 has been sub par, the stories have been more focused and paced. The stories, for the most part, have concentrated on the Doctor and Clara and their involvement in their adventure and less about an upcoming deadly danger or secrets being kept by some annoying winking woman or who is really the Doctor. The stories have been stand alone and enjoyable. I attribute this to the writing, the acting and the chemistry that has been given time to develop between the Doctor and Clara, the best Doctor, Companion duo since the 10^th Doctor and Rose.

Doctor Who – The Angels Take Manhattan (Spoilers)

Doctor Who – The Angels Take Manhattan

Review By Ken Parker

The Weeping Angels are back and can Steven Moffat use them to send Amy and Rory off in style?

Spoilers

Doctor Who - The Power of Three Review (some spoilers)

The Power of Three

Review by Ken Parker

So basically we have three filler episodes in between a Dalek story and the final Amy and Rory story. So far nothing to write home about. Could The Power of Three salvage a half season that so far has one excellent, on okay and one bad episode? We will assume the fifth story will have enough emotion in it to achieve a passing grade so it is up to the fourth story to make something happen.

Some Spoilers

Doctor Who - A Town Called Mercy (mild spoilers)

Doctor Who – A Town Called Mercy

Review By Ken Parker

Mild Spoilers

The new Doctor Who series has always been inconsistent when it comes to quality. The ups and downs are part of the fabric of the series. Sure, many other series follow suite but not all. Wouldn't it be great to have a bunch of really good episodes in a row. Well, hopefully A Town Called Mercy will start a streak of this type of quality. Shaking off last week's story, we look now to an adventure with the Doctor and the old West.