User Reviews

The second half of season 7 of the revived Doctor Who begins with the introduction of new companion Clara Oswald -- for the third time. It's a crackling, fast episode as the Doctor finally finds and rescues Clara from the Great Intelligence's attempts to take over humanity yet again, this time by uploading everyone into the Internet cloud -- I guess that my concerns about the issues of the security of the cloud and its ubiquity are shared by the writer.

One of the issues that has disturbed me a bit for the past couple of seasons is that showrunner Steven Moffatt has produced shows that are fast, furious and fun, but even as the characters are delineated and jokes are cracked, I've been afflicted with the nagging suspicion that the stories have not been given their due. We've been so busy watching each character strut his or her stuff, that the plots has been given short shrift, resolved by handwaving solutions pulled out of nowhere. Not this time! There is a story and it is resolved in a manner that grows from the show's assumptions and is satisfying. Partly, I think, it is because Moffatt has stripped the show down to the Doctor and his singular companion. There are jokes and gags and Matt Smith continues to be as alien a Doctor as ever, but now there is enough space to let the plot run a bit -- and to advance the season arc of battling the Great Intelligence in a foreboding manner.

The camera-work and editing have improved and offer us some new shots. Last episode (THE SNOWMEN) we got an unprecedented tracking shot following the Doctor as he entered the TARDIS. This time we get a side view. The cameramen are getting an interesting workout in this James Bond style episode.

After Clara Oswald's first two appearances; where she died both times I was a little worried that she was going to die in every episode like Kenny in 'South Park'. It looked like she would early on here as something was using the wi-fi network to upload people's consciences to the internet; leaving their dead bodies behind. When she couldn't access the net she calls the number given to her in the computer shop and ends up getting The Doctor; not a total surprise but he was living in a monastery in the thirteenth century at the time! He comes to her and manages to save her once but those who took uploaded her are keen that they should have her back. The Doctor and Clara will be in danger until the people involved have been stopped as they can use the wi-fi to control almost anybody.

This might not have been a classic episode it did have some decent chills and served as a good introduction to the Clara who will be The Doctor's companion. As well as a few mild chills there are also some decent comic moments such as The Doctor's turning up dressed and a monk and riding up the outside of the Shard on a classic motorbike! The idea of people being trapped on the net or in computers isn't original but at least here we didn't see them trying to escape a clichéd virtual world. The way people were taken… by a robot that looked human till its head rotated was delightfully creep and Celia Imrie made a fine baddie… even though it later emerged that she was just the pawn of an alien entity; an entity which was not exposed to The Doctor or Clara so is likely to return later in the series. Jenna-Louise Coleman has the makings of a fine companion although it is too soon to say whether Clara will be as good a character as The Doctor's previous companion, Amy, was. Over all I'd say this was a fine opening to this half of series seven; the forty five minutes just flew past.

The Doctor is back, Clara is (sort of) on board, and the second half of series 7 is a go. "The Bells of St. John" is an engaging introduction to not only Clara but another aspect of the 11th Doctor as well. If you take a cue and listen, really listen, to the Doctor and follow the story as it evolves, you get a hint at answers to who Clara is at first, who she is when we met in 19th century England, and who she is when introduced for the first time in the Dalek Asylum.

*** HERE BE SPOILERS - SORT OF ***

Pay really close attention and you may even work out 'why' Clara is who she becomes, why she is the "girl who died twice", and quite possibly grab a hint or two of this series' future...

Dang good job, Steven and crew!

"The idiot's lantern" anyone? The idea it's exactly the same, while here we have the wi-fi and there the new coming television. That time Mark Gatiss wrote a nice and delicate story about a special year in UK. But in this episode, besides a good direction and, finally, a decent actress, I see the same old problems. Moffat makes complicated plot for no reason at all, and in the end he finds himself in a rush. Timing is, ironically, Moffat problem since he took control of the show.

The episode is enjoyable though. It's also largely forgettable. This season splitting doesn't seem a great idea and perhaps miss Coleman deserves better scripts.

An alien entity tries to subjugate humanity by controlling the internet and stealing human souls

Just in case you didn't know 2013 will see the 50th anniversary of DOCTOR WHO . A family television show that was conceived by Canadian television mogul Sydney Newman as an educational series to expand the audiences knowledge and interest on both history and science the show quickly mutated in to something different and quickly became a television institution due to the shows flexible format . Producers and script editors have brought different visions to the show and it's very difficult not toy ruin DOCTOR on a creative level but there's no doubt in my mind that with the exception of the late 1980s when the show was produced by John Nathan Turner the show has never been weaker than under Steven Moffat's helm . That said Moffat has improved in season seven and look forward to having a strong opener to the second part of the season

Unfortunately we didn't get it . Splitting the season in to two parts hasn't done the structure of the series any favours . What we have is an introductory story for new companion Clara . Which we had in the season seven opener . And the Christmas special . Is there any fundamental need for having yet another introduction ? Possibly because all we got was a gossamer thin plot which is padded out by Matt Smith running around waving his arms giving the impression he's really enjoying himself unlike the audience . When Clara asks the Doctor why he doesn't take the Tardis to his destination you're instantly struck as to how padded out the episode . A Tardis trip takes about two seconds on screen where as a motorcycle journey around London takes ten minutes

Director Colm McCarthy makes his debut on the show and because the script is so threadbare one wonders how much he has pushed himself to improve the flawed narrative . One suspects not too much and fills the screen with cross montages of computer imagery . Likewise because of the Doctor's illogical need to travel via motorcycle you're left with the feeling tha you're watching a tourist commercial for London . McCarthy also fails to reign in the repetitive soundtrack by Murray Gold which quickly outlives its welcome . BTW if you're a 13th Century monk try and look at least slightly amazed when you see a 20th Century invention like a telephone being used

This is a season opener that disappoints and feels like inconsequential mid season froth which is exactly what it is if the season hadn't been split in two . Perhaps even more unforgivable is that it's a distant sequel to the 1967 story The Web Of Fear that saw a military unit trapped in the London Underground fighting for their lives against robotic Yeti controlled by The Great Intelligence which is not only one of the genuine masterworks the show has produced but is also one of the greatest pieces of television the BBC has ever made . One can't help noticing how Steven Moffat has an infinite budget in comparison but is totally unable to make anything approaching the compelling entertainment level of that story . It also indicates he has very few ideas of his own " Earls Court was an embarrassment " states one character. So was the rest of the episode replies this viewer

The actual villain(s) of this story are not the interesting part, anything was Clara however is. The viewer is left constantly in suspense that something might reveal to us how Clara is able to have lived now three seperate existances and it certainly keeps the viewer hooked to the series.

This episode has a number of striking similarities with the 10th Doctor story Partners in Crime: They both feature the Doctor starting out alone then meeting up with someone he recognises from a previous adventure who joins as his new companion. They both feature an alien power controlling a human organisation based from an office building with a strong female leader. They both feature humans being used unknowingly for the benefit of the alien power. They both feature an action scene with the Doctor on the side of the office building. It therefore comes across to me as a kind of remake. I find it rather lazy to copy and it is out of order to copy without admitting to it. However, the only way to make a remake a success is to change key aspects of it and make the remake better than the original. That is what this story achieves.

It is a very good adventure which does not have big flaws in logic or other annoying faults. It is fun, entertaining and well scripted. The aliens in Partners in Crime were the cute but rather comedic and non threatening Adipose. Here we have the Great Intelligence, an enemy faced many many years before by the 2nd Doctor in the brilliant Season 5 of the Classic Series and who had returned in the previous episode, the Christmas Special The Snowmen. This creates an ongoing plot thread which links in to the story arc for Clara and leads on to the season finale. Having the Great Intelligence and the sinister robot servers is a much better threat than the Adipose were and makes for good scenes of danger and menace as well as the promise of more to come later in the series.

The plot is not easy to get your head around but is perfectly within Doctor Who logic and is interesting and exciting enough to keep me absorbed right to the end. Although the defeat of the alien threat seems slightly anticlimactic in how it is achieved I liked that it is clear the plot was only a minor part of a greater threat and I loved way the brilliant Miss Kizlet, wonderfully played by Celia Imrie, and her workforce are released from control and are shown to return mentally to how they were before they came under the evil influence. It is actually very sad and affecting to see Miss Kizlet convincingly and hauntingly revealed as having been controlled since childhood. It was also great to have UNIT getting involved.

Production values, effects, acting and direction are all great and the dialogue is thoughtful, funny and smart. Jenna Louise Coleman is strong as new companion Clara and at this stage the mystery of her impossible existence is very intriguing.

I have to slightly mark Moffatt's writing down for lifting too many elements from an earlier story but other than that and the rather ridiculous, over the top motorbike riding up the Shard, this is a mostly excellent story, not among the most amazing adventures due to these issues I mentioned but a high standard one in my opinion.

My Rating: 8.5/10.

My Series 7 Episode Ranking: 3rd out of 14.

And now we are introduced to Clara Oswald proper when the Doctor, sulking with paintings of Clara in a monastery receives a phone call (via the TARDIS) from none other than Clara from present day - - asking for help with the WiFi no less! So of course the Doctor rushes to try and figure out just who this Clara is. From there we are treated to a rousing adventure involving stolen souls and WiFi.

There have been some comparisons made of this episode to the season two episode "The Idiot's Lantern," due to the similarities of people being uploaded into the WiFi (basically brain-scanned and sucked via robots called "spoon heads"), and how "the wire" would suck the people's faces off from tv screens as it gorges itself on their electrical impulses in the brain. But this is an unfair comparison. Yes, suspension of belief is obviously required by both episodes but the face sucking in "The Idiot's Lantern" was a farcical mess, while the spoon heads, which admittedly do have their own problems as villains, mostly that their "camouflage" wouldn't really work when viewed from behind, still aren't anywhere near as ludicrous and the WiFi aspect is presented with much better believability and is at the very least an intriguing concept, raising interesting questions regarding the soul, individuality, and memory.

Does the episode answer these questions? Well, yes, in a way, but it fails to explore them deeply as they are more or less just a plot device to present a fun and thrilling adventure...which is fine by me. Full of interesting twists and turns, mysteries and cool concepts (adjusting a persons "personality settings" for instance like a computer program), this episode is entertaining to the last. 9/10

This episode was a ripoff of The Idiot's Lantern, but done better. I liked the idea of people being downloaded into the WiFi. I also thought the reveal of the Great Intelligence was great. The only problem was Doctor Who so obviously stealing from itself.

But still quite good after all. Yes it is a rip off of The Idiots Lantern but it is a more modern twist too. The Great Intelligence was a little underused as was the feeling of any real threat, it all seemed a problem that was then resolved in 5 minutes.

So still entertaining but could have been less rushed.

Lost cause until the titular Doctor hits antigravity on the hog and wheelies The Shard.