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It's good when a creation that's associated with one era, especially with a certain tone, comes back just to see how it will work. Two really fantastic examples were actually not on TV at all – the Krotons in Alien Bodies and the Nimon in Seasons of Fear.

Thinking back, the Autons worked very well in Rose didn't they? Still scary but existing in an at times quite comedic episode – I thought the plastic Mickey was very funny, particularly the fact that Rose could hardly tell the difference. Feels like a world away from the tone of Spearhead and Terror though.

The Autons were great in Rose, and I can't wait to hear the Ice Warriors in the Tenth Doctor era with Big Finish's The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Volume 2. That just sounds like such a perfect combination of monster and Doctor Who era to me.

Yeah, I like the sound of that as well.

I rolled my eyes when it was announced that the Mondasian Cybermen were coming back because I couldn't think of any good reason why they should. I really like them but they were perfect at that time and in that story. Then it turned out that they're Peter Capaldi's favourite monster so I felt different about it. It must have been great for David Tennant to meet his favourites, the Zygons, in The Day of the Doctor (after his own era had ended) and I wouldn't begrudge Peter that . To my knowledge Paul McGann hasn't been given a Yeti story yet so hopefully that will happen.

I'm still not entirely sure how their return will work. Their design is quite cheap by new series standards, and I hope the casual audience don't think 'Wow, they must have run out of money'.

I haven't seen much of them but that was the impression I got as well. I'm not sure they've even got human hands, which would be a pity.

Yeah, they wear surgical gloves.

Well I suppose that's still pretty disturbing isn't it? I love the permanently open mouth while they were speaking.

It's very alien. The new series Cybermen could learn a lot from the mouths of the Tenth Planet ones.

The Hartnell era is just on a different level when it comes to representing aliens. So imaginative.

It is impressive what they managed to achieve on a shoestring budget.

The Monoids' golf balls in the mouths for eyes is a particular favourite . Works a dream.

Oxygen

Many are describing Jamie Mathieson as the Moffat era's Steven Moffat, and it's not hard to see why. Whilst none of his episodes have particularly scared me in the same way Moffat's have, Jamie Mathieson's stories for the show mainly tend to lean towards the darker corners of the Whoniverse. This probably makes him the closest to what Russell T Davies had with Steven Moffat as a one-off writer. After Series 9's more light-hearted The Girl Who Died, oxygen is another dark episode from Mathieson in the vein of his series eight stories.



In Oxygen, The Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) arrive on the space station Chasm Forge in the far future, where oxygen is sold by businesses as a commodity. The Chasm Forge crew are supplied oxygen through their space suits, programmed to give oxygen in relation to how many credits the wearer has. Things are not as they seem as the TARDIS crew discover some of the crew onboard the Chasm Forge are dead, and still walking. The suits have been killing their occupants, but is it the result of the suits' Artifical Intelligence going rogue, or has someone programmed them to do it?



The episode gets off to a slow start, but once the plot kicks into gear it proves to be a thrilling episode. The Suits prove for very effective monsters, essentially like space versions of zombies. Doctor Who has of course played with zombies before - most notably in 2005's The Unquiet Dead - but the monsters featured here are probably the most obvious examples of zombies in the show so far, and perhaps the most interesting take.



The idea of suits trying to kill their occupants is a very unique one, especially with the combination of the very Douglas Adams-esque idea of businesses selling oxygen. Some viewers may not like the very prominent anti-capitalism message in this episode, but I think it's one that is extremely relevant to today's society. The other day I read an online article about the Scarborough Council charging people 40p to use public toilets, and this is something that I believe is a disgusting money-making exercise. Why should you have to pay to go to the toilet? Why should you have to pay for oxygen? The two are instantly comparable, and charging for public toilets essentially turns councils into businesses.



Two things are very impressive about the production of this episode. The first is the make-up of the space zombies. The space zombies look fantastic, and pretty much as convincing as those you see in high-profile movies featuring zombies such as Shaun of the Dead. The second is cinematography. There is a brilliant sequence in this episode where Bill is exposed to the vacuum of space without a space helmet, and the image blurs and distorts to show the effects of the exposure. It's such a clever and well-executed sequence, and one that deserves recognition for how immediately effective it is.




It's the aftermath of the vacuum sequence with Bill that also highlights how much the 12th Doctor's characterisation has developed throughout his era. Series 8 Capaldi wouldn't have cared less that his companion was being exposed to the vacuum of space, but Series 10 Capaldi



If the cliffhanger didn't quite work, this episode did deliver in another area. In Oxygen, we finally get to see more of Nardole. This time his appearance isn't a brief cameo at the beginning or end of the episode, but as a proper companion to The Doctor like Bill. Finally I can form some sort of opinion on the character, and so far I like him. He's a fun companion for The Twelfth Doctor, and displays some interesting chemistry with Pearl Mackie. I can't wait to see more of his character in Extremis; hopefully he isn't relegated to cameo status again, as I think there's potential yet to be realised with Nardole.



Overall, Oxygen starts off slow but once it gets going it proves to be another great episode from Jamie Mathieson. The space zombies are very effective, and the central premise is reminiscent of Douglas Adams. Also: Matt Lucas is finally featured in more than just a brief cameo! Unfortunately the game-changing cliffhanger is made a little too obvious in the final scene, and if you pay attention to the way Peter Capaldi plays it you will figure out what the cliffhanger is straight away.

Extremis/The Pyramid At The End Of The World/The Lie Of The Land


Three parters are a strange beast for the new series of Doctor Who. The first parts either act as prequels to the second and third episode or a totally unconnected story, and whether they even count as 'three parters' is always a hot topic for discussion in the Whovian fandom. Personally I tend to count the prequel-part two-part three structure as a three part and the 'unconnected story' structure as something separate. That means Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and Name/Day/Time Of The Doctor are not three parters in my book, but Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords on the other hand certainly is.

Extremis/The Pyramid At The End Of The World/The Lie Of The Land counts too.



The strange thing is that whilst all three are a part of the same story, at the same time they explore three completely different areas of science fiction. The first part, Extremis, is set inside a Matrix-style computer simulation run by the Monks as a way to plan a successful invasion of Earth. Pyramid At The End of The World, meanwhile, is an apocalyptic episode where the Monks are using the approaching doomsday as leverage to persuade the United Nations and leaders of the three most powerful armies in the world - America, Russia and China - to give consent for the Monks to invade. The Lie of The Land, meanwhile, is set in an alternate dystopian world where the Monks have been given consent and Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) are the only ones who know the truth.



It's a clever format for the three parter, and a great way to keep things fresh. Unfortunately it feels like the three parter could have been more easily a two parter, as the first part Extremis fails to deliver the exciting promise of its hook: a book that tells its reader the truth of the world they live in, and all those who read it commit suicide upon their discovery.



It sounds like a relatively simple and exciting premise, but the computer simulation angle results in a confusing mess and is a case of Steven Moffat trying to be too clever. It's not entirely clear how much of the episode is a simulation and how much is real, and the climax doesn't make a great deal of sense as it relies on the simulated Doctor (Peter Capaldi) using email to contact the real Doctor, despite the simulated world not being real. The email received by the real Doctor is ridiculously unspecific - two words: 'save them'. What's the real Doctor supposed to make to that? Why not 'The Monks want to invade the Earth'? And how does the real Doctor know about Bill and Penny's (Ronke Adekoluejo) date? Was the real Doctor watching the simulation through his Sonic Shades? Even so, how would he see Bill and Penny's date? The simulated Doctor wasn't there to record it.



The flashback sequences with Missy (Michelle Gomez) are the most interesting here. These see Missy placed on trial by an unnamed species, and the Doctor is her executioner. This should have been Extremis's main story as it is much more engaging than the over-complicated computer simulation plot and placing the Doctor as Missy's executioner plays well with the character's compassion and long-standing frenemy relationship with The Master. It also contains one of Michelle Gomez's best performances as Missy, her portrayal toned down compared to Series 8 and Series 9 and veering even closer to Degaldo's Master. Michelle Gomez gives another outstanding portrayal in The Lie Of The Land that actually leads you into feeling sympathetic towards Missy as she claims to regret her past villainous acts (although it's probably a ruse to trick the Doctor into trusting his friend again).



The second part - The Pyramid At The End Of The World, written by Toby Whithouse - is definitely my favourite of the three, and a massive improvement on Extremis. It's a return to the more straightforward plots of the rest of Series 10; a simple, easy to follow end of the world storyline that demonstrates the power the Monks hold. A mysterious pyramid has appeared overnight, and The Doctor, Bill and Nardole travel with the previously mentioned U.N. and military leaders to investigate. The pyramid turns out to be the Monks' ship and base of operations, and they offer to save humanity from the approaching apocalypse if they give their consent to invade.



The Pyramid At The End Of The World is without a doubt the best episode of Series 10 so far, and it's hard to find much fault with it. It's well-paced, expertly directed and as with some of my favourite Moffat era stories such as The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon and The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion it has a nice epic feel. This is an episode that could easily be broadcast on the big screen with its sweeping desert vistas and it wouldn't look out of place. It also presents a wonderful irony to the approaching apocalypse, when the end of the world turns out to be taking place in a small British laboratory in a Yorkshire village.



It's a clever move by Toby Whithouse to make the end of the world be caused by a simple mistake from a male and female scientist duo; the man who turned up to the lab drunk and the woman having broke her glasses on the way to work. Not a massive catastrophe or a third world war as often portrayed in apocalyptic films but simple human mistakes. Doctor Who feels right exploring the very scary idea that the end of the world could happen anytime and caused by the smallest of human errors.



I won't spoil the cliffhanger of this episode, but believe me: you won't see it coming. The consent of love comes from the most unlikely place, and it makes complete sense for the character involved. To me it is up there with the cliffhanger to Utopia; very high praise indeed given how much Utopia's final scenes were very much a punch the air moment.



The Lie Of The Land by Toby Whithouse sees a dystopian world where the Monks have taken over. The population of Earth believe that the Monks have always been a part of Earth's history, and Memory Police take away anybody who remembers that in reality they have only been here six months. Bill and Nardole both remember the truth, whilst the Doctor appears to be making propaganda broadcasts for the Monks. If that synopsis reminds anybody of George Orwell's 1984, where the UK population are working in a dystopian society where the government are purposefully rewriting historical documents and creating a new version of history, that's because the plot is very similar. The Monks have rewritten human history so that they were present in historical events, and the Doctor's past victories against The Daleks and Weeping Angels are now Monk victories. That doesn't mean the episode is unoriginal; instead, it very much does its own thing.



The episode suggests the very intelligent notion that if we as humanity believed something was always there, we would ignore it as it would have always been the case. This is a great twist on the usual alien invasion story, and gives the Monks an implied power that means they don't need to offer much resistance as the people of this dystopia have no reason to fear them. Some have complained that this episode rarely depicts any conflict from the Monks towards the Doctor, Bill and Nardole but to me it makes sense as they assume the Doctor's plan to rewrite what the Monks have done won't work. We are told that if either the Doctor, Bill or Nardole attempt to change things back the mind technology that the Monks use will fry their brains - why would they bother fighting them when the Doctor or his companions will be dead if they attempt to rewrite everything back to normal anyway?



My only criticism of The Lie Of The Land is the fake regeneration. Somehow the Doctor manages to trigger a full regeneration without changing his face, and it's never explained how he manages to avoid becoming thirteen. It's not even like the regeneration had only just started, been siphoned off or only focused on one part of the Doctor's body; the golden glow covers everything and disappears without 12 showing a different face. An explanation would have been nice - was it a projection, for instance? Also: why does he ask if the regeneration was 'too much'? Bill doesn't know anything about regeneration, so why would he even need to fake it when he shoots her? He could have simply pretended to die.



Overall, the Monks trilogy starts off poor with Extremis but by the second and third parts it soon improves. Extremis is too confusing; basically Steven Moffat trying to be too clever. Pyramid At The End Of The World on the other hand is a classic and shows off The Monks at their very best, whilst Lie Of The Land portrays an interesting dystopian world. The Monks trilogy isn't the show's finest three parter - that honour still lies with Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords - but it does provide some nice variety, with all three parts exploring three distinctively different forms of science-fiction. Some may argue it's not a three parter, but to me it most certainly is.

Extremis -
The Pyramid At The End Of The World -
The Lie Of The Land -

Overall -

Empress of Mars

It's sad to think that Empress of Mars could be Mark Gatiss's last episode for Doctor Who. The writer has stated he is unsure if he will return, and as someone who has enjoyed the majority of his episodes for the show I will be disappointed if he doesn't return under Chris Chibnall. Mark Gatiss gets a lot of unfair criticism from certain sections of the fanbase; he is essentially the Helen Raynor of the Moffat era, who also received a lot of harsh comments (and in my cases, personal abuse) from Whovians. Empress of Mars is Mark Gatiss's ninth episode for the show, and is probably my least favourite out of his televised stories.



There are some nicely bizarre visual images in this story, and to begin with it has a wonderfully surreal feel. I never thought I'd see a bunch of victorians having a tea party on Mars, or the Ice Warriors waging war on an army of victorian soldiers. It's also nice to finally see an Ice Warrior story set on Mars and exploring more of the race's mythology; the introduction of the Ice Queen is cool and makes a lot of sense given how the Ice Warriors live in hives. She is essentially the queen bee who doesn't want to be disturbed...but of course, this is Doctor Who. If she were to never wake up from her tomb, there would be no story.



Unfortunately the episode quickly runs out of steam. The tea party goes on for way too long, and it takes too much time for the Ice Warriors and their Ice Queen to wake up. The episode adopts more of a classic series style of pacing, and whilst it works with episodes such as Smile that use it to create a sense of mystery here it feels more detrimental to the story. This should be an episode with lots of action; a Doctor Who blockbuster, like Asylum of the Daleks. Instead it's more like The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood, and its central idea of human beings as the invaders is interesting but not explored enough for it to be as thought-provoking as its potential would allow it to be.



Then there's the TARDIS misbehaving sub plot, which feels incredibly shoe-horned in and doesn't fit the episode at all. It just comes out of nowhere; Nardole returns to the TARDIS and the ship takes off, returning him to the vault he has been guarding with the Doctor on Earth. The entire sub plot seems to only exist partly so the story arc is featured in the episode and partly because Mark Gatiss didn't know Matt Lucas would be a companion at the time of writing. It's a very strange way to write Matt Lucas out of the main plot when the Doctor could have explained to Bill in one line that he's currently guarding the vault.



Mark Gatiss deserves credit for introducing the amazing Ice Queen however. The Ice Queen is an amazing addition to the Doctor Who universe and a monster who I definitely hope we get to see return sooner rather than later. She gives the Ice Warriors a nice sense of regality which directly mirrors the victorians and their beloved Queen Victoria (a portrait of whom appears in the episode - based on Pauline Collins' take on the monarch); the Ice Queen's presence is so intimidating and the design so memorable that I have a feeling she will become one of the Moffat era's most beloved creations. Here's to many more Ice Warrior stories featuring the excellent Ice Queen, and a load of Big Finish audio dramas chronicling her rise to power. Maybe we might even see standard female Ice Warriors in future?





Overall, Empress of Mars is possibly Mark Gatiss's weakest story. The episode starts off fine with surreal scenes such as a victorian tea party on Mars but quickly loses steam, and it takes too long for the Ice Warriors and the Ice Queen to wake up. There's a neat return for a classic series character though, and the Ice Queen is awesome.

The Eaters of Light


Since the show was brought back, there has never been a classic series writer return to the show. There's been classic series directors - Graeme Harper - and classic series actors - Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, Christopher Benjamin etc.... - but never classic series writers. Until now. Finally a classic series writer has written for the new series - Rona Munro, the writer of the 1989 classic series serial Survival.



The Eaters of Light sees the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) land the TARDIS in Second Century Scotland to test Bill's (Pearl Mackie) theory about what really happened to the missing Ninth Legion of the Roman army. Meanwhile, a light-eating locust has come through a portal from another dimension, and has been feeding on the Roman army...



This episode is probably the closest to the classic series the new series will ever get. Throughout Murray Gold's music is very reminiscent of classic-style incidental scores, and the Doctor is written more in the vein of the classic incarnations of the character. Peter Capaldi plays it brilliantly, and his performance allows the different approach to feel like the same incarnation we've grown to know and love over three series. He bares more similarities to the Series 8 version of the 12th Doctor in this episode than the softer Series 9/10 12, but it makes sense for the character's more pacifist tendencies. The brutality doesn't feel particularly random, the Doctor is simply fed up of the rivalry between two warring factions (Romans and Pictish warriors). It's a return to the theme of 'If we fight like animals, we die like animals!' from Survival.



One improvement the classic series approach has over the new series style is that the guest characters feel more fleshed out. We get to know these characters more; their personalities and what makes them tick. The new series generally tends to treat them as merely functions to the plot, whereas the classic series taught you to care for them as much as you do the TARDIS crew. Here they feel more like people rather than objects for the writer to play with. A particular standout is Lucius (Brian Vernel), a compassionate bisexual Roman soldier who befriends Bill.



Some viewers have taken issue with the past being shown as diverse in both this episode and Thin Ice, but personally I don't see the issue. It sends out a nice message of inclusivity to viewers who are black and/or with a differing sexuality to those of us who are straight. It's the right kind of message Doctor Who should be sending: the Doctor should be teaching the audience that it doesn't matter if you're black, white, blue, straight, gay, bisexual, have one head or no head it's who you are inside that counts. If that means showing a more ideal version of history, then so be it.



There's another and far more interesting choice that this episode makes than a bisexual Roman however. Many new series episodes tend to feature a lot of their monsters; The Eaters of Light, on the other hand, fits into that new series rarity where you rarely see the creature in full. The episode is more like Closing Time, for example, than it is The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. For most of the story we only see glimpses of the creature, and this is a wise choice because much like Jaws when you see the creature in full its very unconvincing. The CGI appearance of the light-eating locust is poor, and it appears much more threatening when its lurking in the shadows. Once it is revealed you can tell it's not really there; it looks hideously fake, and takes all tension out of the episode.



The episode is also let down by being way too talky. There's too many conversations going on in this story, and it slows the plot down to a stand-still. A lot of the scenes are expository, with Rona Munro deciding to 'tell not show' rather than the more enjoyable 'show not tell'. This episode achieved the lowest AI of the series so far, and it's not surprising. The Eaters of Light is an episode that could have benefitted from stricter script editing to cut out the unnecessary padding and replace it with scenes that strive to show the audience something instead.



Then there are certain occurrences that take place that make the episode feel like it should have aired much earlier in the run. Bill falls down a hole...again, after falling down a hole in the previous episode Empress of Mars too. Nardole (Matt Lucas) nags the Doctor about guarding the vault...despite Missy being in the TARDIS at the end of the previous episode...yet Nardole is surprised to find her there when they return to the TARDIS. Bill doesn't know about the TARDIS translation circuit...despite having been travelling with the Doctor for quite a few adventures since the first episode. It feels as though this episode was originally episode four of the run, and these continuity errors make the story feel out of place. It's a shame more attention wasn't given to the show's continuity, as this is the kind of thing us fans notice.

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The final scene between the Doctor and Missy (Michelle Gomez) is nice, if a little too long. Rona Munro clearly understands these characters and their shared history, and whilst it's obvious Missy is playing the Doctor it will be interesting to see what will happen tonight when the Doctor tests whether she is really turning 'good'. There will inevitably be consequences, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is revealed that Missy has been tampering with the TARDIS.



Overall, The Eaters of Light is a solid if unremarkable episode. The guest characters are stronger than usual, and it's interesting to see a classic series style adopted for a new series episode. Unfortunately the episode is let down by too many talky scenes, and the CGI is ropey. There are various plot inconsistencies too that leave the episode feeling out of place in episode ten of the twelve episode run. There's a nice scene between the Doctor and Missy however, which demonstrates how much Rona Munro understands the dynamic between the two characters.

When I saw the trailer the first thing I thought of was the monster in the Beowulf-inspired Outlander (2008). Your description of it as an alien "locust" is interesting because yet again it's as if the aliens have to be smuggled in under cover of the familiar. Like the giant wasp in the aptly named The Unicorn and the Wasp or the proliferation of boring aliens with animal heads. It's like we're constantly being taken back to the birth of science fiction, or the era of Flash Gordon especially – "next week the Doctor battles the orangopoid". I like early sci-fi, don't get me wrong, but I expect a bit of a mix. At least in Vincent and the Doctor the monster, though pretty inconsequential, was more original in appearance.

That's good to know. If I ever go back to these episodes I'll bear it in mind. The Eaters of Light is the kind of story I would have watched if I'd felt warmer towards the production, the showrunner and the lead actor.

I think it's important to say that inclusivity isn't a modern invention. I remember reading about Alexandre Dumas' father, who was mixed race, and a general in the French army. I get the impression that Napoleon's original attitude was if you were French, you were in, regardless of racial differences, but that this got eroded later on, possibly more in the top ranks at any rate. Dumas senior was certainly dealt with very badly towards the end of his life.

Stories like this show peaks and troughs in historical attitudes and it's essential to represent that as faithfully as possible. I don't want to see an ideal presentation of history, I want an accurate one.

I keep noticing comments about the bad CGI. The Mill were great when they were doing the effects work.

I personally can't wait for this era of the show to be over, especially because of Steven Moffat.

It doesn't look much like a locust, but it's described as an alien locust in the episode. It's something that Russell T Davies did a lot of course, and it's interesting actually that Series 10 has seen Moffat taking a lot of inspiration from that era. Bill has a domestic life with her foster mother, the episodes are mostly more straightforward and of course there's John Simm's Master returning tonight. I don't think Series 10 will be looked back at as the most memorable of the new series, but it feels like the show's transitioning to a more approachable RTD-esque era. I think the Chibnall era next year is going to borrow heavily from RTD whilst hopefully maintaining its own unique identity.

I don't really know a great deal about history so I'm not sure how accurate Thin Ice and The Eaters of Light are to their respective periods. I think showing different races and sexualities in episodes set in the past is more of a non-issue really though. I mean, it is sci-fi and there are things that are way more fantastical in the show than that anyway.

I think Milk are generally pretty good, but there is a noticeable drop in quality of the CGI in Thin Ice and The Eaters of Light. Possibly budget cuts, maybe more money spent on other episodes such as World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls.

Wow – progress . I have a lot more time for Davis nowadays I tell you.

I read that argument a lot, that because it's a fantasy there's a bit of leeway with the historical stories – I don't buy into that. If the research has been done and you can take the fantasy away and still have that historical fidelity, I'm happy.

They should have taken a leaf out of the book of their predecessors, exiling the Doctor to Earth to save money and in the case of Philip Hinchcliffe, working out what could be put into production and look the best with the money and resources available. The best producer of the show ever, that man.

I think a 70s-esque era would suit Chris Chibnall well. I could imagine him writing a lot of stuff with UNIT for instance.

The only thing about Chibnall that I remember not liking was him altering the Silurians. I thought why didn't he just write for the Draconians if they wanted to see a humanoid face? At least what Mark Gatiss did with the Ice Warriors was in some way appropriate.

I love the Pertwee era and I think what Russell T Davies did with the first season echoed it really by giving the Doctor that core 'family' of characters, as well as the Earthbound feel.