Doctor Who (2023) - Christmas 2024: Joy to the World

Episode:

884

|

Serial:

312

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Alex Sanjiv Pillai

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2024

---

The good news is that Sci-Fi Adventures has finally returned to cover a brand new episode of Doctor Who! The bad news is that it's been six months since I last wrote a full scene-by-scene review like this and I've forgotten how to do it. Honestly it's lucky I remembered I'm supposed to take notes.

Anyway, this is a Steven Moffat episode and that's a pretty big deal, seeing as he's written some of the best stories in Doctor Who history. They haven't all been winners, but that's no surprise considering how prolific he's been. By my calculations this is the 50th episode that Moffat has been credited for writing or co-writing for Doctor Who, which is even more than Russell T Davies' 41. He's still way short of Classic Who writers Robert Holmes (72), Terry Nation (62) or Malcolm Hulke (54), though, and I doubt they'll ever be beaten...

... unless you count full stories instead of episodes, in which case those numbers become Robert Holmes (18), Terry Nation (11), Malcolm Hulke (8), Russell T Davies (33) and Steven Moffat (40... ish). (It's hard to know what to count as a two-parter sometimes.) So Steven Moffat has set an almost unbeatable record here, especially considering how seasons are getting shorter and further apart. At least, it would've been if RTD wasn't so close to catching up.

I should warn you that this review will contain SPOILERS for every minute of this episode and certain minutes of previous stories.

Doctor Who (2023) 1-03: Boom (Quick Review)

Episode:

878

|

Serial:

307

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Julie Anne Robinson

|

Air Date:

18-May-2024

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm sharing my thoughts on Doctor Who episode Boom.

Boom is one of just two episodes this season that wasn't written by current showrunner Russell T Davies. In fact, this is the Steven Moffat story! That doesn't meant that it's going to be good, I've done plenty of bitching about the episodes produced during his time as showrunner, but the potential for greatness is high. Moffat's episodes dominate Doctor Who 'all time top 10' lists. According to IMDb voters, he wrote the highest rated episode in series 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and he came second for series 5. Second, third, fourth and fifth. And sixth.

Personally, I'm interested in seeing how much this episode has in common with the other Ncuti Gatwa episodes so far. Is it going to embrace the new fourth-wall breaking fantasy tone or is it going to be a throwback to the slightly more mature and realistic style of the 2005 run?

There will be SPOILERS below.

Doctor Who (2005): The Day of the Doctor - Part 3

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the final third of The Day of the Doctor, the epic 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special. Click one of these links to jump to an earlier part: PART ONE, PART TWO.

Did you know that the title is shiny 3D, not just flat white? That's just one of the awesome observations you'll be getting as I finally finish taking this episode apart.

There will be SPOILERS below, for this episode and earlier ones. Otherwise, you should be safe.

Doctor Who (2005): The Day of the Doctor - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I want to go to London and slide down that railing.

Anyway, I'm still writing about The Day of the Doctor, arguably the most special of all of Doctor Who's anniversary specials. I've reached the middle third of the episode, but you can CLICK HERE to return to part one.

There will be SPOILERS here for this and older stuff, but nothing for newer stuff. I'll mention a few things from the novelisation as well, which shouldn't be too much of an issue as it's the same story.

Doctor Who (2005): The Day of the Doctor - Part 1

Episode:

799

|

Serial:

240

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Nick Hurran

|

Air Date:

23-Nov-2013

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing a bit about The Day of the Doctor, the 799th episode of Doctor Who! It got so close to being a milestone in the show's history. People could've still been talking about this story even now. But nope, it missed out by just one episode.

However, the story turned 10 years old last month, so I figured that this would be a good time to write something about it. Speaking of anniversaries, I've been writing about a lot of anniversary specials lately. The Three Doctors was Doctor Who's 10th, The Five Doctors was the 20th, Silver Nemesis was the 25th and Trials and Tribble-ations was Deep Space Nine's 30th.

Doctor Who did have a 30th Anniversary special, the Doctor Who/EastEnders crossover Dimensions in Time, made for Children in Need, but I'll be skipping that. I've seen it before and once was enough. In fact, it was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw from start to finish. I had no idea what the series was back then, but after watching Dimensions in Time I knew I didn't like it, and then the TV movie confirmed it. To be fair, if my first exposure to Star Wars had been the Holiday Special I probably would've avoided the rest of that for 20 years as well.

Anyway, the 40th got nothing new on television at all, but for the 50th Anniversary the BBC treated fans very well. There was An Adventure in Space and Time, dramatising William Hartnell's time on the series, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot spoof, starring the classic Doctors, and then there was The Day of the Doctor, the 50th Anniversary special itself, simultaneously released both on TV and in actual cinemas. In 3D!

These screencaps aren't going to be in 3D, but I'll try to add some depth to my commentary as I go through the whole damn story scene by scene. Well, the first third of it a least. Either way, there will be SPOILERS below.

Doctor Who (2005): The Night of the Doctor

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

John Hayes

|

Date:

14-Nov-2013

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally writing about The Night of the Doctor, the surprise seven-minute minisode prequel to The Day of the Doctor that just appeared on the internet out of nowhere a week before the 50th Anniversary.

2013 was a while ago now, and it's maybe hard to imagine what it was like to be a Doctor Who fan back then. It was the end of a Doctor's era, whose final run had been marred by long gaps between poorly received stories. But it was also an anniversary year and people were hyped for the return of familiar faces in a big anniversary special written by one of the series' most beloved writers. So it was basically nothing like 2023...

No one was hyped for The Night of the Doctor however, in fact they didn't know it was coming at all. But then a few people watched it and afterwards they told their friends to drop everything, stay off Twitter, and watch it themselves. Even knowing what it was about would be too much of a spoiler, all that fans needed to know is that they had to see it.

So I'll warn you now that there will be SPOILERS here, both for the episode and relevant stories leading up to it. I won't spoil anything that happens after this story however, even things that fans at the time would've already known.

Doctor Who (2005) 8-01: Deep Breath

Episode:

801

|

Serial:

242

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

23-Aug-2014

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the first story to star Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. I keep forgetting if it's called Don't Breath or Deep Breath though. I'm fairly sure it's not Don't Speak at least, because that's a song.

Peter Capaldi was the oldest actor to the take the role, as he was 56 at the time he filmed this, just slightly older than William Hartnell had been when he made An Unearthly Child. That means this is the biggest age gap between Doctors, as Matt Smith had been the youngest. Unless you count John Hurt and complicate everything.

There was no change in showrunner this time, as Steven Moffat remained the producer and main writer, but there was a bit of a shift in tone for this era. I've noticed some people aren't all that keen on the Peter Capaldi seasons, but I've also noticed that it's usually the writing that gets blamed for that. Me, I think that all of Doctor Who's seasons are a mess, classic and modern, with plenty of terrible stories to go along with the great ones, and the Twelfth Doctor's seasons were no exception.

Just this once I've decided not to bother warning people about the massive SPOILERS below this point, so if this is the first review you've seen on my site and you don't know by now that I only drop in spoilers for other Doctor Who stories that aired before it and none that came afterwards, then that's your own problem I'm afraid.

Doctor Who (2005) 5-01: The Eleventh Hour

Episode:

757

|

Serial:

203

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Adam Smith

|

Air Date:

03-Apr-2010

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing words about The Eleventh Hour: the first episode of series five, the Steven Moffat era and the Eleventh Doctor's four year run.

This is the first time we've been introduced to a new Doctor, companion and producer at once since Rose. In fact it's only happened five times ever: An Unearthly Child, the TV movie, Rose, The Eleventh Hour and the upcoming Girl Who Fell to Earth. It's become a tradition in the revival series for each new producer to get a bit of a clean slate but that wasn't the case in the classic show.

It's also the first time the Doctor's number has been referenced in the episode title. The Eleventh Doctor was played by Matt Smith who remains the youngest actor to take the role. He was 27 at the time, almost 30 years younger than William Hartnell was when he first stepped into the Tardis. This wasn't Smith's first time playing the role though, as besides his cameo at the end of The End of Time, he also filmed both episode of The Time of Angels first. So he'd had a bit of practice by this point.

The episode was originally going to be called The Doctor Returns, but Moffat decided to come up with something else because the Doctor hadn't actually gone anywhere. He finally got a chance to use the title for the 2016 Christmas Special after the series took a year off, but he gave it a bit of a Spanish twist, turning it into The Return of Doctor Mysterio.

One last first: this was probably the first episode of Doctor Who that I decided to watch properly, from the start, and I think I even watched it the day it aired. Well okay, I also saw the TV movie, but that's not an episode so it doesn't count.

Warning: There'll be SPOILERS below for the episode and perhaps earlier ones. No spoilers for later stories though.

Doctor Who (2005) - Christmas 2016: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Episode:

827

|

Serial:

264

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2016

---

This Christmas on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about a Doctor Who Christmas special again!

Well, the review was supposed to be done by Christmas anyway. I was aiming for Christmas Day and missed, though that's probably for the best now that I think about it. Two Doctor Who Christmas special posts coming out on consecutive Christmases is dangerously close to becoming a tradition and I'm not keen on getting stuck in traditions. I might even write about the next one at Easter or something just to mix things up. That seems like a good time for a story about rebirth.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio is actually the very next episode after the previous Christmas ep, The Husbands of River Song, as they apparently forgot to air a series of Doctor Who during 2016. It was a leap year too, so that means 365 days between episodes; the longest hiatus since the big one between 1989 and 2005 (the 1996 TV movie doesn't count because it's a movie). That's why it's the Return of Doctor Mysterio by the way.

Though Peter Capaldi had actually been back for a while by the time this entered production, as it was filmed during the production of the 2017 series, between Knock Knock and Oxygen. Must have been weird for them to film an episode without Pearl Mackie around.

Uh, I mean Pearl Mackie, who's that? Never heard of her. I don't even know who Jodie Whittaker is mate. This review only features SPOILERS for this episode and the ones that came before it (Christmas specials especially) and I'll not even be hinting about anything that comes after. Except for a few paragraphs back where I hinted that the next Christmas special is about Jodie Whittaker becoming the next Doctor, which you of course know already.

Man, I said 'Christmas' nine times already and it's only the intro, that's a bit worrying. Ten now.

Doctor Who (2005) - Christmas 2015: The Husbands of River Song

Episode:

826

|

Serial:

263

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing Doctor Who's 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song... during Christmas 2016. So I'm both incredibly late and incredibly timely, which seems perfectly fitting for Doctor Who.

The episode follows on from the season 9 finale Hell Bent, which left the Doctor a little unhappy for a number of reasons. It also left him without a companion, but that's okay as rogue archaeologist River Song is going to make a surprise return! Probably. It's possible that the trailer was a cunning trick and only her husbands ever show up, but that'd be a bit of a let down.

I'm going to recap the episode and share my thoughts along the way, so this is going to have massive SPOILERS for the entire story and anything leading up to it. Everything afterwards is safe though, and not just because it hasn't aired yet by the time I'm writing this.

Doctor Who (2005) 9-12: Hell Bent

Episode:

825

|

Serial:

262

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

05-Dec-2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures it's Hell Bent, the epic season finale of Doctor Who series 9! I mean I'm just guessing that it's going to be epic, but they usually are. The Earth, the galaxy, or all of time and space tends to be at stake and only the Doctor...'s companion is special enough to save the day!

It's also epic in runtime as well. The episodes this series have generally been around 45 minutes long, but that's been creeping higher these last few episodes and now it's up to a full hour. If the runtime inflation continues at this rate they'll finally be ready for Peter Jackson to come in and direct an episode by series... 12.

Under this paragraph you'll find a few dozen spoilery screencaps surrounded by SPOILERS for this episode and the ones leading up to it. I won't spoil anything that aired after it though, not that there's much left to spoil. The series took 2016 off, so at the time I'm writing this there's just one Christmas special left (though there'll be two soon).

Doctor Who (2005) 9-11: Heaven Sent

Episode:

824

|

Serial:

261

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

28-Nov-2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm back to Doctor Who again. I'm still watching series 9, though not for long as I'm in the middle chapter of the final three-parter! Though the TARDIS Data Core wiki says it's part one of the final two-parter and Wikipedia currently reckons it's just the penultimate story of the series. Either way it's carrying on from a cliffhanger ending and setting up the finale.

Which means that this is the second series in a row to end with an episode featuring 'Heaven' in the title, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay. It worked out pretty well the last time though, so I'm optimistic.

There will be massive SPOILERS for Heaven Sent, the episode before it and probably other stories too. But only older episodes, never later ones.

Doctor Who (2005) 9-08: The Zygon Inversion

Episode:

821

|

Serial:

258

|

Writer:

Peter Harness and Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

07-Nov-2015

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, the second half of another Doctor Who two parter.

The first half, The Zygon Invasion, was perhaps the most divisive episode of series 9 up to this point... or perhaps not, it's hard to tell. I've definitely read a lot of hate about it though, with people calling it tone deaf, xenophobic and generally not very good. Personally I thought it was watchable enough, when it wasn't being painfully stupid, but I've got higher hopes for The Zygon Inversion for two reasons:

1. It's got Steven Moffat's name in the writing credits and he's generally pretty good at this.
2. The word 'Inversion' makes me think that all is not what it appears, and that'd be a good thing in this case.

But before I give away my thoughts on the entire plot, here's a quick SPOILER WARNING for you. Warning, I'll be giving away the entire plot for this episode and spoiling some earlier episodes too. I won't say a word about anything that aired after it though.

Doctor Who (2005) 9-05: The Girl Who Died

Episode:

818

|

Serial:

256

|

Writer:

Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

17-Oct-2015

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about The Girl Who Died, which is an entirely different episode to The Girl Who Waited (but likely not unrelated to The Woman Who Lived, which is coming up next).

Series 9 hasn't entirely won me over so far, but I'm hyped for this one just because of the talent involved. The best writer of modern Doctor Who teaming up with Steven Moffat, how can that not lead to awesome? Okay maybe I should wait until Mathieson writes more than two episodes before I declare him all-time champion of Doctor Who, especially as Moffat has crafted a formidable set of stories. But Moffat's been kind of hit and miss since taking the reins and Mathieson's two episodes were really good!

Oh, plus they've also got the former lead guitarist for The Vapors in the role of director. I've no idea if that's a good or bad thing, I just had to mention it.

Just so you know, I'll be filling my text with SPOILERS from start to finish, maybe even for Doctor Who episodes that came before this one. Episodes that aired after it are perfectly safe though, as this is actually my first time through the season.

Doctor Who (2005) 9-02: The Witch's Familiar

Episode:

815

|

Serial:

254

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

26-Sep-2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing all kinds of words about The Witch's Familiar, the second half of The Magician's Apprentice.

The weird thing about this year of Doctor Who is that it's almost entirely made up of two parters. Classic Doctor Who was all about the serialisation and when it came back to TV last decade in a new format it still managed to fit a few two parters in each series, but from 2012 to 2014 it shunned serials and stuck with standalone episodes almost exclusively, so the return of the cliffhanger is a bit of a surprise.

Personally I think this can go either way, because some of the best episodes of the show have been two parters (like The Empty Child, The Impossible Planet and Silence in the Library), but Doctor Who's kind of all over the place in quality and I don't much like the idea of being trapped in a bad story for two parts.

Anyway my writings will be filled with all kinds of SPOILERS for this two parter, but nothing that comes after it. I'll discuss the future when I get there.

Doctor Who (2005) 9-01: The Magician's Apprentice

Episode:

814

|

Serial:

254

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

19-Sep-2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm spoiling the hell out of The Magician's Apprentice, episode 3 billion and 1 of Doctor Who.

The Magician's Apprentice kicks off year two of Peter Capaldi's time in the role of the Twelfth Doctor, who's actually the thirteenth incarnation of the renegade Time Lord because of reasons. The backstory gotten a bit convoluted and confusing at this point, so this is probably not the ideal place for a newbie to jump in. But the series has been running on and off since 1963 so it's a train you really have to catch in motion somewhere.

Me though, I'm very familiar with the mythology and continuity of the Doctor Who universe. Well I've been watching it since Matt Smith took over at least, plus I went back to check out a few of the David Tennant episodes and a bit of Eccleston. But this season (or series I suppose) will all be new to me, so you'll be getting my first impressions and utter cluelessness about where it's all going. My plan is to go through the entirety of series 9 in order and then after that I'll decide if I want to keep writing about the show. Fortunately Doctor Who has taken an entire year off and won't be back until spring 2017, so there's no rush!

I'll be going through the episode almost scene by scene, dropping SPOILERS and discussing every tiny thing that happens in it, so I wouldn't go any further unless you've either already seen the episode before or you'd rather just read about it.