Not Wooden At All (Review: 'Doctor Who' 34.10, "In the Forest of the Night")

The Doctor arrives in the centre of London, to find it has been filled with a massive forest.

• Capaldi was excellent in this one. We seem to have finally got a good idea of the core concept of this character; grumpy, aloof but also very funny.
• Clara and Danny are turning into a great couple; they have wonderful arguments and I'm really liking Danny. Still wondering what his dark secret is.
• Lots of kids in this one (this seems to be a theme of this season) and they had some great bits. I loved the girl who found 'x'.
• In the forest of the night? It all took place in daylight!
• I see no-one actually set fire to a tiger; now that would be cruel. They really are big cats from when I've seen them 'live'
• The whole signs and traffic lights thing reminded me of Falling Skies, but without the grimness of that. As well as far fewer deaths.
• Frank Cottrell Boyce also wrote the London Olympics Opening Ceremony; I've got to say that was actually one of my favourite bits of those Games... unlike the other ceremonies.
• There was brilliant dialogue in this, reminiscent of Moffat. 
• Hitting the old reset button again?! The final scene was tacked on, but it probably needed to be there.

Conclusion

A rather tree-mendous episode. Get it, tree-mendous.

I'll get me coat...

9/10

A Pacer, but not a Sprinter (Review: 'Doctor Who' 34.9, "Flatline")

Clara, with some assistance from the Doctor who is trapped in the TARDIS, has to stop some two-dimensional aliens.

• Clara was doing the Doctor-y stuff this week and doing very well at it; you could do an entire series (or novel) with just her.
  
• There were some great scenes with Capaldi in the TARDIS and we've now firmly established "pudding brain" as a catchphrases. Many a laugh, that's for sure.
  
• The creatures were scary, if a bit two-dimensional (ba boom tish).
• Does Doctor Who not have the kudos to actually use a DMU type that hasn't been retired from the main network for over a decade? I'd love to see a Pacer get destroyed.
• Definitely not doing the 'everyone lives' trick these days, that's for sure.
  
• Bristol? Not a choice I'd make, but nothing wrong with it.
  
• Stan was a real nasty piece of work; wasn't the actor in Auf Wiedersehen Pet?
• That banishment speech? So done before. It was supposed to feel epic, but it was just derivative.
  
• The plot thickens with Missy...
  

Conclusion

Certainly one that engaged the attention with a good deal of humour, although I have to admit the train bit annoyed me.

7/10

Not Quite First Class, but heading there (Review: 'Doctor Who' 34.8, "Mummy on the Orient Express")

The Doctor and Clara (surprisingly) board a hyperspace version of the Orient Express, where an invisible mummy is picking people off.

• Capaldi was again great in this episode; I doubt the Doctor is heartless deliberately, but he certainly comes across that way.
  
• I'm sure that Clara's flapper outfit will get some positive comments among the fans; she's definitely been given a Fan Service Pack this season.
  
• I'm glad that they chucked in the line about it being slightly bigger than the 'real' one; you know what the fans can be like.
• Frank Skinner was rather good in this; I've not seen him in much as a serious actor and hopefully he'll do some more.
• This wasn't the best paced story in the world; the resolution was a little sudden.
  
• Some great lines in this; I particularly liked what seemed to be a Tom Baker impression by Capaldi, but Coleman got some good ones too.
  
• Gus... total psycho; reminds me of GlaDOS from Portal.
  
• Jelly babies in a cigarette case? Classic.
• Still would like Danny Pink to actually leave Earth.
  

Conclusion

An enjoyable episode, but by no means a classic.

7/10

That's going to give some people arachnophobia (Review: 'Doctor Who' 34.7, "Kill the Moon")

• A superb performance from Capaldi here, with lots of humour and also lots of 'menace'. I'm reminded of "The Waters of Mars" (which also featured the Doctor acting like that)
• Jenna Coleman - excellent. Spending most of the episode in a spacesuit allowed us to focus on her acting skills rather than her outift.
• Courtney Woods turns up again... and she's not annoying at all. I've changed my mind about kids in the TARDIS; she'd be welcome back.
• Great stuff from Hermione Norris. Bumping off her two colleagues allowed for focus on an excellent actor, but does she ever do anything apart from cynical.
• Nice to see some Mexicans in space... unfortunately they ended up dead. We didn't even get any of their names... not even a haunting photo.
• Spider effects were great... and Capaldi is of course not the first Doctor to be face-hugged in something.
• Lunar surface frankly needed some micro-craters. It's getting hit by stuff all the time.
• I'm sure there's some conservation of matter/energy errors here.
• Lots of nice little references here... including to Blinovitch!
• Next week looks like a Clara-lite episode; that will be interesting.

Conclusion

An excellent, highly thought-provoking episode, with possibly big ramifications for the show.

9/10

The Burning Question #18

Although the August issue of The Burning Question comes at the last day of September, this will not be a double issue. Behind the scenes we are already working on the next issue. But there's no denying that this issue is indeed rather late in appearing. There are several reasons for that, but there is little use going into them. Regretfully there is no Artist's Corner in this issue, but fear not: this doesn't mean that this section has been cancelled and the next issue should again have a page filled with the art of one of our members.

Anyway, despite the delay I hope you'll enjoy the latest issue of our newsletter which you can read here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109478868/Phoenix_newsletter_05_2014.pdf

Cool enough for school (Review: 'Doctor Who' 34.6, "The Caretaker")

Gareth Roberts has written two previous stories where the Doctor has gone undercover as a human. Teaming up with Steven Moffat, he's done a third and it's better than the last time.

• Peter Capaldi is demonstrating a considerable talent for comedy that I hitherto didn't realise... but then again, I didn't watch The Thick of It.
• Jenna Coleman is continuing to excel here; loads of great lines and I see Gallifrey Base has a thread on her skirt.
• I hope that Danny Pink gets to travel on the TARDIS at some point; he'd be good once the Doctor learned to fully accept him.
• The whole gag with the teacher in a bow tie... excellent. I can see why the Doctor thought that (then again he does have an inflated opinion of himself)
• Will we see the invisibility watch again? Possibly, possibly not.
• There wasn't a huge amount of plot in this, more comedy with a plot tacked on.
• I like the bit in the parents' evening about the "disruptive influence".
• Courtney reminded me of that kid from "Nightmare in Silver" last year.
• Nice little homage toThe Bill with the PCSO there.
• Next week looks very interesting indeed.

Conclusion

Enjoyable, but by no means a great... I did start clock watching.

7/10