Doctor Who - Series nine on Target

I have serious issues with series eight. There were some bold ideas, yes. Two-part stories, plenty of Daleks, top drawer guest actors... But as a whole, it felt too dark - particularly for a Saturday night. The storylines were grim and were of the kind that no doubt alienated the popular audience - particularly since it was screened at irregular later times with episodes occasionally ending after the watershed. It was also at this point 

I also felt there were issues with Clara's character. She's saved all of the Doctor's incarnations for his anniversary and loved and lost her man so her story had virtually been told by the time we saw her "die" in Last Christmas. But since that was a dream, we ended up with her for another year when it would've done the series a world of good by starting off with a new companion for series eight. 

Her eventual death, resurrection and departure was protracted and maudlin doing neither the actress or the audience any favours. One minute she died, the next she's back. And then she's dead again. And she's back... but the Doctor doesn't know that. Good job too as he'd be bloody livid at what it could potentially do to the fabric of time!

Favourites in this series is Heaven Sent - a tour-de-force from both Peter Capaldi (in a solo performance) and Steven Moffat (for a tale of self-discovery and revelation worthy of 'The Twilight Zone'). Such a pity it was connected to the convoluted mess that was Hell Bent. 

Ah, well. We're back to square one for the next series...

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Doctor Who - Series eight on Target

I did these some time ago. As I think I may have said before, I ended up doing all these new retro Target covers in reverse, beginning with Peter Capaldi's final series (which I adore and that's probably the reason why I started there.). 

Not a lot to say about series eight that hasn't been said already. Capaldi hits the floor running with his portrayal. There's a good repartee with Clara despite her story having reached a climax with The Name of the Doctor. It has a reasonably subtle story arc to it that doesn't get in the way of the standalone nature of the individual episodes. 

My favourites here are 'Listen' (a great meditation on fear and its sources within the subconscious mind) and 'Flatline' (Great variation on an old SF idea with some mind-blowing visuals). The worst is undoubtedly 'In the Forest of the Night' which, whilst elegant to look at, feels patronising in its storytelling - like a kids' TV show that needs to emphasise its subtext via the characters' posturing and lengthy bouts of exposition. 

And Doctor Who is never like that... it?

If you've enjoyed viewing this page of artistic delight, then you can show your learned appreciation by purchasing for me of a coffee via my Ko-fi account here. Thanking you again.