Nope, nope, NOPE. This episode is right up there with Fear Her, Love and Monsters and Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks for my LEAST favourite episode of all time.
It was just bad.
Am I biased? I'm not a Mark Gatiss fan at all. I've only enjoyed ONE Gatiss episode, Victory of the Daleks.
And, you guys, I'm hating Clara more and more. We know nothing about her. I can't relate to her at all.
Even after six episodes, I still feel like there's a strange woman travelling with the Doctor. It makes me cringe every time he kisses her forehead because I don't know who the heck she is!
This whole Clara mystery was a big mistake, Mr. Moffat.
I miss Amy and Rory so much. :(
Anyway, I only made two notes while watching, it was that tough for me to watch.
Here they are--
I really LOVED the Tegan nod. 'Gobby Australian', 'Brave heart, Clara'. That made me smile. It was especially touching for me because I just said goodbye to Tegan and the Fifth Doctor in my classic watch.
There were a few laugh-out-loud moments. Jenny kicking butt and Strax almost assassinating that poor horse.
I do enjoy Strax.
So, yeah. That's all I have to say about The Crap-son Horror!
BUT WAIT, YOU GUYS!
THIS is going to make up for this whole sub-par season!
THIS RIGHT HERE!
Did you LOVE The Doctor's Wife?!
Do you LOVE Neil Gaiman, American Gods, Neverwhere, Sandman?!
AHHHH, ME TOO!
So 'Nightmare in Silver' and the 7b finale, 'The Name of the Doctor' are COMPLETELY going to make up for this whole season, right? RIGHT?!
Can you believe that we only have TWO FRICKIN' EPISODES LEFT?! And then another 6 month wait for the anniversary special.
That makes me so sad! :(
Okay, so lay into me!
Did you love The Crimson Horror? WHY?!
What are your feelings about Clara? Am I way off base here?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter!
HOLY COW YOU GUYS, THAT WAS THE BEST EPISODE, RIGHT?!
Well, until we got to that crappy ending... ;)
I haven't been that creeped out by a Doctor Who episode since The Empty Child!
The monster was chilling, the 'ghost' was spooky and the scenes in the forest were scary as hell!
A few notes I made--
'A sliver of ice in his heart'. Yep, that's pretty accurate. Remember, this is the man who let Cassandra die, who questioned whether or not he should let Wilf die, who's committed genocide more times that I can remember, not to mention what he did to the Family of Blood.
A sliver of ice indeed.
Ten's spacesuit was nice to see, wasn't it? Aww, I miss him SO MUCH. I can' even wait to see him again in November! TOO EXCITED.
I wonder how many 'pocket universes' there are. There was one in The Doctor's Wife too.
But the scene between Clara and the TARDIS was great.
My theory on that-- It was written in to remind us that the TARDIS can do holograms. A good way to bring back classic Doctor's without having to age them, no? ;)
What was with the whole missing umbrella stand? That was odd. Will we be seeing what that was all about in an upcoming episode?!
It was good to hear Matt's 'Geronimo!' again! It's been too long!
But a weird thing--That crystal from Metebelis 3? Yeah, the Doctor MISPRONOUNCED Metebelis.
The Third Doctor pronounced it a completely different way.
Coincidence? Am I seeing things that mean nothing?
...probably. ;)
Clara is 'just an ordinary girl'. Which, in my opinion, means that whatever is going to happen to her hasn't happened yet.
Interesting...
Okay, now that ending. Ugh.
Yes, I get the metaphor. The similarities between the 'lonely monster needs a companion', like the Doctor--a lonely monster himself--needs his companions.
But man, that was just badly written, wasn't it?
"Okay, lets send him back to the pocket dimension--where the TARDIS could be killed within seconds--to find the monster there and bring him to his monster girlfriend--who we barely saw and never did get an explanation for--in 1974 (the year I was born, eff yeah! :P)."
Um. Wut?
But!
All in all a MUCH better offering from Neil Cross, who's first story, The Rings of Akhaten, was pretty horrible.
In closing, OMG DID YOU SEE THE NEXT TIME TRAILER FOR JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE TARDIS OMG AHHHHHHHH IS IT SATURDAY AGAIN YET???
Ahem!
So what did you think of Hide? Love it? Hated it?
And who the hell is Clara?!
I believe, ladies and gents, that this is what you would call a fun old romp!
And it was fun, at times, wasn't it? But it was also...lacking. Much like last seasons, "Curse of the Black Spot".
This episode was written by Chris Chibnall, who's hit-or-miss for me. I LOVED '42', but 'The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood' were also kind of meh.
Okay!
So, the Doctor heads to future-earth and is told about a spaceship the size of Canada that's going to crash into the planet.
He gathers some friends (and tagalong Queen Nefertiti) and tries to stop it before earth shoots it down.
On the ship they discover--what else?--Dinosaurs!
This episode truly shows Matt Smith's utterly brilliant acting skills. How a man can go from the child-like dinosaur-lover in this episode to the old man who's so sad for the girl inside the Dalek in Asylum is absolutely beyond me. He amazes me in every damn time!
And lets talk about Rupert Graves as Riddell, shall we? TOTALLY underused! I LOVED his character! How awesome would it be to see him again in a future episode? Yes, please!
And, of course, Mark Williams as Brian 'Pond'. Haha! We DO see him again in The Power of Three, in case you're curious!
He was great too, wasn't he?
Definitely comic relief with Rory with many laugh-out-loud moments....and we see where Rory gets his fashion sense!
So, while the Doctor and his 'gang' are trying to find a way to stop the ship, we meet the big bad for the episode, Solomon, played by David Bradley. He was sufficiently grumpy and cross, but I wasn't as scared of him as I should have been.
And his two robot sidekicks? Yeah, they were supposed to be funny but, for me, they fell completely flat. Borderline stupid and not so much funny.
I was happy to see likable Amy back for this episode, instead of conceited, mean, bossy Amy we saw in Asylum...albeit she was that way for good reason.
And in a fun twist, it's always great to see the Silurians, isn't it? Who've built a space-ark full of dinosaurs, as we come to discover!
The Doctor is pleasantly happy and gleeful...until Solomon shows his true colours and tells his robots to injure Brian. THEN his darker side comes through once again....and THAT, ladies and gentlemen, ALWAYS scares me.
Again, I ask, HOW can a man who's playing someone happy and fun one minute, play someone so cold and callous the next?! Brilliant, that Matt!
It turns out that Soloman is a trader (which reminded me so much of a few Star Trek: TNG and Voyager episodes I've seen!) and deals in rare objects.
It's good to see that the Doctor is still unknown and not at all valuable--more so now that even the Daleks don't remember him!
Solomon jettisoned ALL of the Silurians into space because he wanted the dinosaurs...but when the ship went onto auto pilot and turned back to earth, he couldn't figure out how to turn it off.
The ship enters the earth's atmosphere and earth launches the missiles. Solomon decides to leave the ship, and kidnaps Nefertiti. Now THERE'S a rare find!
Of course, the Doctor comes up with a plan (cue 'I Am the Doctor'!) and magnetizes Solomon's ship so he can't leave.
Amy and Riddell stun raptors back-to-back in a gloriously fun shoot-em-up scene, and Rory and Brian easily pilot the ship out to space because, you know, they have the same genes!
Handy, that!
Of course, even a old romp of an episode has to have some serious foreshadowing time, right?
And this one doesn't disappoint in THAT department! "How can I not wait for you, even now? They're getting longer, you know, the gaps between your visits. I think you're weaning us off you." "I'm not, I promise. Really promise. The others, they're not you, but you and Rory have...lives. Each other. That's what we agreed." "I know. I just worry there'll come a time when you never turn up. That something will have happened to you and I'll still be waiting...never knowing..." "Oh, come on, Pond. You'll be there til the end of me." "Or vice-versa." *long pause, meaningful look from the Doctor to Amy* "Don't."
Whoa. WHOA. What does that mean?! DOES Amy die? Can you believe they only have THREE epsiodes left?! I'm going to SOB my FACE OFF!
Ahem!.....Anyway!
They save the ship, the Doctor rescues Nefertiti, the missiles kill Solomon because of the Doctor's dark side, and Brian gets to see the earth from high above...as he eats his tea.
Who else caught the look the Doctor gave Amy and Rory as they looked out the TARDIS door?
He's so lonely. He misses them so much. ....or was the a look of foreshadowing, again?!
I think he knows something and he's not telling!
We end with the Ponds getting postcards from Brian as he travels the world...and from the Doctor as he travels through all of time and space.
All in all, a decent, fun episode, but not mind-blowing, which is what I've come to expect from each and every Doctor Who episode.
What can I say? I've been spoiled. ;)
What questions do we have after this episode?
-IS it foreshadowing? Does the Doctor know something about the Ponds?
-How do Amy and Rory leave him?!
-How much time will pass between 'Dinosaurs' and 'Mercy'? (There was 10 months between 'Asylum' and 'Dinosaurs'!)
Best parts:
-Matt Smith!
-Riddell!
-Brian Williams!
-Rory and Brian's relationship.
-"This is the gang. I've got a gang. Yes."
-"I'm not a Pond."
"'Course you are."
-"Did you just have that on you?"
"Of course, what sort of a man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list."
"Dad, I'm 31. I don't have a Christmas list anymore."
"I DO!"
Here's the trailer for A Town Called Mercy. Cyborg gunslinger! AHHH!
Now, what did YOU think of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship? Did you enjoy it more than I did? Or not?
It's here! It's finally here! After 8 long months, tonight saw the return of our favourite Doctor and his companions...and WHAT a return it was!
What a HUGE, HUGE spoiler those of use that were lucky enough to be at the screening had to keep!
WHAT IS THE NEW COMPANION DOING IN A DALEK?!?
And IS she the new companion? Or a relative of the new companion?! And if she is Clara, how did she get out of there alive?!
SO MANY QUESTIONS, as usual, which is one of the many things I LOVE about this show!!
We begin with Rory and Amy getting a divorce. What?!? Nooooooo!
Suddenly, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are all kidnapped by people with Dalek eye-stalks coming out of their foreheads and taken to the Dalek Parliament ship!
The Daleks need to the Doctor to save them, and Amy and Rory have to go along for the ride because he does better with a companion around. Ha!
Apparently a ship has crashed into the Dalek asylum--y'know, the place where they keep all the CRAZY Daleks-- and they need the Doctor to go in and fix things.
Suddenly, we meet the girl who's ship crashed...Oswin Oswald, played by JENNA FRICKIN' LOUISE COLEMAN!
WHAAAAAAAAAT?!
The rest of the episode is spent trying to rescue Oswin--with the Doctor fixing the Pond's marriage along the way.
D'aww!
When he finally gets to the room Oswin is in, he's attacked by the Dalek's that have survived the Oncoming Storm.
In a HUGE plot twist, she makes them forget who he is! HOLY COW.
And in the second HUGE twist, we see that Oswin is NOT a human female! She's a DALEK! She dreamed up the world around her because reality is too painful. How heartbreaking and sad is that!?
The Doctor makes her remember what she is and, after fighting for control, she allows him to run AND wipes the memories of ALL of the Daleks on the Parliament ship before the asylum planet is destroyed.
SO!
What did we think of the series 7 premiere?!
Mine won't be a popular answer.
I thought it was a BRILLIANT episode, but a sub-par premiere. This would have been a GREAT mid-season episode.
I did love the episode-- don't get me wrong! The twists and turns and the Clara/Oswin thing was mind-blowing!
Okay! What questions do we have after this episode?
-Who is Oswin?
-Is Oswin Clara?
-Is Oswin a relative of Clara?
-If Oswin is Clara, does the Doctor find her BEFORE the Dalek's do? Or does she somehow survive the asylum?
-How does he recognize her (he only saw a Dalek in this episode!)?
-Or maybe it's completely coincidence and he has NO idea his companion is going to end up a Dalek?!
-Will Amy and Rory be okay now?
-What does it mean that the Dalek's don't remember the Doctor? What will the fallout from that be?!
-How will they finally remember him again--and when?!
-How will Clara be introduced in the Christmas episode? Reports say she's a companion from the PAST. how will that work?!
Best parts:
-Jenna's little glance at the screen as she says, "Remember." HA!
-"Out of ten? Eleven." Hahahaha!
-"Don't be fair to the Dalek's when they're firing me at a planet!"
-"The nose and the chin."
-Oswin! I LOVED her character!
-The scene between Amy and Rory. "I gave you up!" *SOB*
-"I'm not looking for the countermand, dear. I'm looking for reverse." *BOOM*
-The Doctor straightening his bow tie after the Amy/Rory scene!
-The twists!
And here's the trailer for next week's episode, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship!
I'd love to hear what YOU thought of Asylum of the Daleks! Did you realize who Oswin was right away, or did someone explain it to you afterwards? (I've had to explain it to a bunch of people. We don't get as much press over here and so not many know who the new companion is!)
