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Doctor Who - INTO THE DALEK Review

Peter Capaldi's Doctor gets another litmus test after the experiment of his debut episode, as he comes beak to stalk with the Daleks.  The challenge of any Dalek story is to put the show's most famous monsters in an interesting context and while this tale doesn't break new ground for long term fans it does provide an unusual angle on the trundling menace.  Crucially it uses the foe as a mirror for the Twelfth Time Lord and gives us an idea of how he's going to shape up over the coming weeks. 

I had little idea what was going to happen in this one aside from the obvious, so it was a pleasant surprise to see Into The Dalek is literally just that.  The innards of the machine are well-realized, a good combination of the functional and fantastical. Returning director Ben Wheatley has some fun with trippy slow motion and proper splattery explosions.  The opening sequence of an escaping ship is a dazzling spectacle, taking us light years away from Deep Breath's Gothic claustrophobia.

Wheatley brings his old collaborator Michael Smiley into proceedings but the standout guest star is Zawe Ashton, who uses her tough but vulnerable persona to strong effect.  Capaldi becomes a part of the action, rather than the swaggering presence guaranteed to yank something out of the hat.  Writers Phil Ford and Steven Moffat certainly serve up something to chew over as the Doctor saves a life then discards one within the space of the first half.  Having met Moffat's bold redefining of Clara head on last time, Jenna Coleman runs with it and proves a solid match for Capaldi's fractured hero.

The script also introduces us to Samuel Anderson's Danny Pink, a lucky chap who has Coleman throwing herself at him during his first morning.  This element couldn't hope to compete with the main action, though Anderson looks like he'll make a refreshingly low key addition to the cast.       

Doctor Who - DEEP BREATH Review

What to do when you cast a scary-looking man as the Doctor?  Make the Doctor a scary man.  Just as showrunner Steven Moffat applied a simple solution to the question of a modern day Sherlock, so the dilemma of a markedly older Time Lord in an age where forty is seen as a dead zone gets solved the same way.  The leading man himself is a roaring success, in some scenes literally.  He's as gaunt as the stick of chalk he finds on the floor but also hilarious.  It's easy to forget with all the publicity concerning a journey into
darkness that Capaldi has a comedy background and his confrontation with the tramp bears the hallmarks of a 3 am altercation in a Glaswegian alleyway.  Certainly this is Doctor Who as we've never seen it before.

The tone has arguably shifted.  Ben Wheatley is well-suited to direct this tale of clockwork men and organ appropriation, but whether children are included in the mix this year remains to be seen.  The Doctor definitely isn't approachable and there's no comfort in Madam Vastra's Paternoster Gang.  Strax as always is amusing but it falls to Jenna Coleman to carry the human element as Clara.  The way she raises her bark to match her companion's bite is a bit forced - at one point the Doctor mentions Amy, another spectacularly resourceful young person.  Coleman is good though and Clara's fear at being abandoned to the monsters by her former hero makes for some solid sofa diving.

Despite the sea change Moffat has kept his habit of including eye-catching elements that tend to pad out the plot (in this case a rogue dinosaur) and there is the usual landslide of lines that run before they can walk.  However, all in all this ushers in a spiky, thrilling and rather nasty dawn for a more grown up show and I'm fascinated to see how the trick will be sustained.