User Reviews

I feel like i'm watching a lower budget version of the film 'Now you see me,' it aimed really high, and for the best part it delivers, a few little flaws, the biggest one being the under use of Keeley Hawes. They did the same with the amazing Helen McCrory back in Vampires of Venice, for someone of Hawes talent I felt the character of Ms Delphox didn't hit the mark.

More positively Jonathan Bailey is awesome as Psi, please producers bring the guy back!! Also, Pippa Bennett-Warner is excellent as Saibra, I'd be interested to learn more of her story too. I liked the pace of the story too, it moves along very quickly.

It's different in some ways, and in others it feels a little repetitive, use of Androids, the Monster at the end (more then a little reminiscent of the end of Hide,) but all in all for me the pros outweigh the cons more so it gets a 7/10.

Finally an episode which creates some interesting characters and where all the praise does not go to Capaldi's performance (which was also excellent, isn't he good!).

Time Heist has the feel of an episode of the classic era, i.e confusion about time and more running about similar looking corridors, which is excellent. The characters of Saibra and Psi were brilliantly written and preformed, I really did start to feel a connection to those two and it would be great if they were to appear again at some point. What the resent series have been lacking is the creation of interesting characters that connect with the audience instead of just focusing on the Doctor, Clara or any other recurring characters. The plot had a confusing edge which kept me concentrated at all times. The Teller was a very interesting new monster which was a nice to see and Keeley Hawes perfectly suited the role of a scary business woman and she had an Umbridge-like feel to the character.

Overall not the best episode ever, but certainly one that can be remembered as a benchmark for more futuristic, weird time episodes which D.Who should be aiming for. Could this be the second step towards a return to form.

Stand and deliver, your psyche and your life, if you cross stalks with The Teller and intend to pull a heist. Stand and deliver, show us what you've got, then once The Teller's probed you you'll be left with not a lot. Stand and deliver, there's nowhere you can get, but just to spice things up a bit we'll make sure you forget. Stand and deliver, says the banker not the thief, just who is the bank robber, with the ransom and the grief.

Time Heist revolves around The Doctor and Clara who finds themselves in an unlikely team joined together to rob the most secure bank in the world. This episode had given me mixed feelings while it was running. It started off with a fast paced tone and we instantly go to the bank heist. Everything is absorbed by the audience immediately and it felt a bit rushed. The episode goes at different directions every time which then makes the episode more interesting as it progresses. However, The Doctor was quite different in this particular episode. He had the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock mood all through out the episode. There are even a couple scenes, and one in particular that The Doctor depicts the High Functioning Sociopath. I am not against this, but if this certain thing goes on. The Doctor might just steal the spotlight from Sherlock in the years to come. Peter Capaldi brought another brilliant performance, I would love to see an episode where he is in a limited place and just stuck and have to talk to people and insults popping out everywhere (An episode like Midnight) because he never fails to entertain while on screen. Clara still remains to be a main stay in both the show and the audience's liking and the new characters introduced who will most likely return for more future roles yet to be explored. The villains portrayed in the episode were interesting enough and the scenes depicting Clara scared and terrified and each turn the episode takes add to the intensity of the episode. Having the most secure bank in the world to be robbed was an interesting idea alone, but in Doctor Who. An ordinary episode just isn't enough.

It isn't a perfect episode, but it was thrilling and quite refreshing. An enjoyable episode with different turns in the narrative. A solid performance by Capaldi who has great potential to be in the top 5 list of Doctors.

Verdict: 8.1/10

This episode hooked me right from the get-go and I was invested for the rest of the ride. "Time Heist" is an interesting, exciting episode with a few nice twists up its sleeve and an excellent monster to protect them.

As is usual by this point, the Doctor and Clara were incredibly entertaining and fun to watch. Their banter never fails to make me smile.

The episode's supporting cast were very good too. Psi, Saibra, and Ms. Delphox all proved to be very interesting characters with enough depth to keep me invested in their respective dilemmas.

The Teller, for me anyway, will go down as one of the best monsters introduced in Series 8. Its introduction scene is easily the best monster introduction in recent years.

The production design was excellent and the world of the Bank of Karabraxos was wonderfully vibrant. For the most part, the episode is well paced but it's definitely an episode that could have used a few more extra minutes at the end.

Overall, "Time Heist" was a highly enjoyable episode with good supporting characters and a few interesting twists.

"The Doctor robs a bank". The idea sells itself, really. But Time Heist was never going to be that straight forward. The result is an episode that remains action packed and fun throughout, but all feels a bit too familiar. Doctor Who is infamous for its use of running, especially down corridors; Time Heist is essentially a corridor running montage for its entire middle act. But the idea keeps it interesting. The episode is also boosted by, yet again, great performances from Capaldi and Coleman. Here, we were also taken away from all the story arcs and serious questions posed so far; a necessary break, which allowed the episode some breathing room. Without this, Time Heist could have been the biggest misfire of the series. But, thankfully, we were left with an episode that, whilst overstuffed and repetitive, was consistently fun and engaging enough to act as a solid piece of TV drama.

The 45 minute time restraint is sometimes Doctor Who's biggest burden, but never more so than here. Time Heist has so many ideas and so much to tell, it struggles to fit everything in, which results in the first half of the episode feeling cluttered and choppily edited. It wouldn't surprise me if the rough draft of this episode was well into an hour long. I actually think Time Heist would have worked as a two-parter. This first half could have acted as a set up (which is, inevitably, needed; they are robbing a bank, after all) and only just delved into the action towards the end, with the resolving part acting as an extended version of the episode's final half. By the time the episode ends, and with so much thrown at you in the final ten minutes, the previous 35 all felt so rushed that it doesn't really make sense. This might improve upon repeated viewings, but even then, the ending felt a bit familiar. Did the whole Alien Love Story thing remind anyone else of last year's Hide?

But, Time Heist probably winds up as the series' most overall enjoyable episode thus far. This was a perfect example of how to have fun without resorting to silliness, which is where Robot of Sherwood faulted. It was also nice to have some side characters that were a bit more fleshed out. Both Psi and Saibra were well developed and welcome additions to the cast; I only feel they could have been even stronger has this story been split over two episodes. This also applies to the episode's antagonist; Ms Delphox, played brilliantly by Keeley Hawes. Whilst she was certainly a creepy villain, she wound up too formulaic in the Female Villain role, and her motives weren't explored enough. Whilst there does seem to be a lot of criticism here, I still really enjoyed Time Heist. It was no match for last week's masterpiece, but it wasn't the show's weakest episode this series, either. Its ideas were too big for its runtime, and there were minor character issues, but it was entertaining, funny and action packed enough to remain interesting throughout. It just won't top any fan favourite lists.

This episode is essentially a bank heist story on another planet. It has a mystery element and a time travel element. I find it rather quintessential Doctor Who in a number of ways. It has aspects of what makes the show what it is and what the Doctor stands for.

Time travel is used well in this plot without becoming totally illogical. Steven Moffatt's era far too often took time travel aspects too far so that they weren't logical or convincing for me whereas this plot basically makes sense. I love that it makes time travel central to the story because that is part of the essence of Doctor Who - it isn't just space travel it is time travel. The way the mystery is tied in with the time aspect is fun too.

The Doctor using his brains to solve a problem is a feature of this story and that is always a great thing, I think, as that is a key part of the essence of what makes the Doctor a special type of hero. Also the Doctor's compassion in trying to appreciate and help an alien 'monster' is a basic Doctor Who feature which is used well here.

The 'villain' being a banker is a great idea and should be used again in future as banking greed is something which makes perfect sense and relates to real life as well as making sense in alien or future worlds. Keeley Hawes is a very good actress and she plays her part as well as possible adding some class. The other guest acting is all of a good standard as well.

The only real flaw for me is that the supposedly impregnable bank is not all that convincingly portrayed. It hardly seems deserving of its immense reputation.

The adventure is not the most exciting or outstanding one ever but is good solid Doctor Who. The deeper themes of how people behave and how people are treated are thoughtfully presented making this a fairly strong episode overall.

My Rating: 8/10.

My Series 8 Episode Ranking: 6th out of 12.

I love a good time heist, and this episode delivered with that. This season keeps getting better. Wowza! I love this season.

Season 8 thus far has been remarkably good. I was worried it wasn't going to work, but there seems to have been stories already written and put aside for a different Doctor than Matt Smith. I can understand why, these sorts of episodes wouldn't work for Matt Smith's Doctor and on the opposite not work great with Peter Capaldi's.

Very like Ocean's Eleven, even the filming and music! But a nice episode though.

I'm just gob-smacked. The previous 4 episodes were simply garbage, including 'Listen' which started with great promise, then kicked the audience in the bollox at the 11th hour with stupid ideas and a rubbish - not ambiguous, just crappy - ending.

I expected 'Time Heist' to be more jolly japes and sexual innuendo and everyone gets saved by 'The Power Of Love' and IT'S ALL ABOUT ME (the Doctor/Clara/this week's flavour).

Instead, this actually had a STORY. He's written a story, folks!! It was possibly the other bloke Moffat wrote it with - if so then that man should write all the eps from now on (CANCEL THAT: he apparently wrote 'Journey To The Centre Of The Tardis', an epic of wasted opportunities and massive stupidities for which he cannot be forgiven). But all the same... THIS EPISODE DID NOT SUCK (completely)!!

There were a couple of ridiculous bits - but we now seem stuck with the space-opera of the Doctorverse being emphasised rather than accidental, so I just ignored them. And they weren't R2D2-can-fly level of bad, they were just a bit naff. (On that point, a question: They have all this hyper-technology, right? So... why do humans still age? Hmm?)

Also I liked the clever parody of red-shirting - they got me there, I thought we were back to the bad old days for a moment.

The most amazing thing: the ending did not involve the usual ultra-schmaltz soapy drama deus-ex-machina sewerage-orgy. OK it was a bit schmaltzy but it was *plot* *relevant*. My god... it was actually a bit *clever*!!

Unbelievable...

So - One of the 2 good episodes we are allowed per-season these days?

Or - A New Hope?

• - -

The Doctor invites Clara to another journey in the Tardis and within moments they find they have lost their memory

" Hey wait a minute Theo. Haven't we seen this type of plot before ? If I remember correctly we had the same opening in last weeks episode ? "

Pathetic isn't it ? In a week where Alex Salmond came close to creating a new independent Scotland the fate of the world's most flexible TV drama lies in the hands of two other Scotsmen - one behind the camera and in front of the camera and it's the one behind the camera who is letting down the one in front of it . Love him or loathe him at least Salmond took the independence debate and stood down as party leader when he'd ultimately taken his party as far as it could go . Not so with Moffat who seems to have installed himself as some sort of television equivalent of a banana republic president for life type dictator

That said Time Heist isn't a dreadful episode but personifies the description of mid season runaround . There's nothing painfully embarrassing about it but by the same token nothing compelling that will have you gasping for breath and discussing it with all your friends the next day

What is rather problematic for the story it feels like a story that was originally planned as two episodes at an early draft stage then somewhere along the line the production suddenly got turned in to a single episode . Elements such as The Teller are just touched upon and never really developed in to something bigger and better . There's also the constant need for characters to run around explaining the plot mechanics which from a storytelling point of view must be seen as something of a failure . Without this exposition we'd be watching nothing more than a convoluted mess and the story never escapes from this disjointed feel

Not to be too negative try and imagine how much worse this would have been with Smith running about in full blown shouting mode . Capaldi is very good indeed but unfortunately he's the one carrying the show and being a new incarnation of the Doctor it disguises the fact that plots and concepts are being constantly reincarnated by Moffat . Much the first half of the season has been done before , especially the Dalek episode . A wise man once said " History repeats itself , first as tragedy then as farce " . I'm afraid we reached the farcical stage some time ago and looks like continuing in to the future

Jenna Coleman has referred to some of Steven Moffat's story lines now recognized as being "Moffat Loops". It seems that Moffat Loops are the only thing on the menu in just about anything that Steven Moffat throws at us in new episodes of Doctor Who. Remember the good old days. I'm sure Steven Moffat enjoyed watching Tom Baker episodes as much as I did. One story would be told over four 25 minute episodes. And there were no "Moffat Loops" in the storytelling. None of the Russell T Davies episodes over four plus seasons had any "Moffat Loops" either with the exception of Blink whose script was written by none other than guess who ? Yes, Steven Moffat himself. Blink presented us with a "Moffat Loop" for the first time and it was one of the most brilliant Doctor Who episodes ever. Whether that subsequently went to Steven Moffat's head or not I don't know.

The old time Doctor Who episodes were brilliant. The Russell T Davies reboot episodes were terrific. None of these relied on a "Moffat Loop" or any sort of "Loop" to be good. Presenting us with these "Moffat Loops" as Jenna Coleman has referred to them as needs to stop. Doctor Who does not require a Moffat Loop every episode to make it work nor does it require any more of Steven Moffat's shallow monsters. We want to see characters with depth such as the great Mr Chase (Harrison Chase a very nasty piece of work from The Seeds of Doom) and his nasty security guard Mr Scorby.

I give Time Heist a rating of five with no blame attributed to the two great lead actors Peter and Jenna.

There was a time in this new reboot of Dr Who when I could say the stories, direction and vibe of each episode made it compelling viewing. However, ever since this new season has started with the new Doctor, it's been Doctor Who by numbers. Some stories have been rather beige however the key ingredient in the show's poor performance of late seems to lay with the person in the Directors chair (or how he/she is being instructed) to direct the show.

Dr Who is supposed to take you on a roller-coaster ride however this barely passes muster as a rocking horse ride. This episode was flat-lining almost from the beginning and it was difficult to get into the flow of things. The story had some potential however the direction (once again) is too mechanical and flat. Someone needs to bring some fire back into the belly of what seems to be (at this stage) a dying beast.

I'll start by telling you simply: this episode is the worst episode of Doctor Who that it's loyal audience has seen in years.

I'll tell you that by the end of this episode I was left thoroughly disappointed and wondering just how they let this one slip through the cracks. The less-than satisfying feeling that this episode left me with is not an easy thing for a showing of Doctor Who to accomplish. When it was finally over (although, I'm not sure it really ever started) I found myself running off to scour the review sheets, curious to see if anyone else was left with the same bad taste in their mouth after watching this one. Well, it turns out that most reviewers agree with the fact that it wasn't a very good episode, however, I've seen nothing but praise for Capaldi from other reviewers. At very least, I disagree with the idea that he gave a strong performance in this episode.

I'll agree that the story was too similar to what's been done before. I'll agree that the plot was mediocre at best. Heck, I'll even point out that the production value was lower in this episode than any other episode we've been given in years. Furthermore, the whole thing just moved way too fast... it was rushed and it didn't really make any sense at all. The lackluster ending was enough for me to solidify this episode in history as one of the most un-enjoyable episodes of Doctor Who to date.

As bad as all that sounds, I didn't feel like Capaldi was doing this episode any favors either. Admittedly, I have not cared for Capaldi's "Who" in any of this season's episodes thus far and frankly I am surprised they chose him to succeed Matt Smith who was quite clearly the greatest doctor in the history of the series. But, I did enjoy Capaldi's previous episodes from this season. His performance has been alright, overall. The guy's clearly a decent actor, I just don't see him as being able to follow Matt Smith's wonderful act. In "Time Heist," however, it's an entirely different story. Any chance this episode had when it started was smashed into the ground by Capaldi's lackluster performance. For example, he speaks his lines way too fast in every other scene... and not in that charming English sort of way, either. His vocal volume is too low as well which is a combination that makes a lot of what he's saying nearly impossible to follow, especially when the episode itself was rushed. Overall, Capaldi doesn't look or sound genuine in this episode. It's almost as if even he didn't give a crap about this terrible episode. There's no excuse for his poor performance, especially because he's got one of the best female supporting actors I've ever seen (Coleman) standing next to him in practically every scene, making Capaldi look better with her every wonderful spoken line that follows his unintelligible mumbling. The guy simply doesn't carry the same sort of "Doctor Who" swagger that we've come to love from, well, just about every other Doctor since the series reboot in '05. For the life of me... I can't understand why Capaldi's receiving so much praise for his part. As someone who was already questioning the decision to choose Capaldi as the new Doctor, yet secretly hoping he feels the part out to eventually get better at playing the Doctor with time, this episode sealed the deal for me. I can't wait until there's a new Doctor and I'm confident in saying that his performance in this episode was absolutely horrid. As bad as the story was, I thought he was even worse.