The Inmate Interviews 1 - Matthew Stott

So this part of the blog is where I invite other people to join me in the my comfy padded cell in the "Evadne Hashagen Asylum For The Perpetually Bewildered". The intention is to have short interviews with new or less well known authors, artists and genre fans - to help (in a very small way) to promote and spread the work about their work and generally have a good chat. I've never done this kind of thing before so time will tell if I am a good interviewer or not.

My first guest is someone who I have exchanged tweets with a lot over the last year about our shared love for Doctor Who. I have also followed his interesting and often funny journey to becoming an independent published author. When his first book was recently released it seemed the ideal time to chat to him and find out a bit more. It's:

Matthew Stott 

Hello Matthew and thank you so much for joining me here in the Rubber Room. Can you tell me a little about yourself and your background and what led you into writing in the first place?
 
Hello! I’m Matthew, I’m a writer. I’ve always been a writer, apart from those six months aged six when I decided I’d quite like to be a private detective. I don’t remember a time I didn’t write stories, so I’ve no idea where it came from, other than by saying something that would make you cringe and bite your fist. Something like: ‘I was touched by the writing muse from the moment I was born.’ YUCK. I currently split my time between writing funny scripts, and spooky novels. Oh, and arguing about Doctor Who on the internet.


You have done a fair amount of writing for TV and radio comedy. What prompted the desire to move into novels? Do you see this becoming your primary medium?

Up until a couple of years ago, I’d written very little prose since I was a teenager, concentrating almost exclusively on scripts. Then I started writing daft little prose comedy bits to entertain myself, and realised I didn’t want to only write scripts anymore. You can do stuff with prose you just can’t with scripts. Plus, people actually read your prose, the only people who read scripts are producers, directors, actors. You’re creating a blueprint that a bunch of other people then add their own bits, ideas and pictures to. With prose, it’s ALL MINE. I like that.

I hope to continue to split between my two writing worlds. It’s good to continue being daft in my script writing life.


Your first novel 'A Monstrous Place: A Tale From Between' has just been published to very good reviews, and I enjoyed it hugely myself. Can you briefly outline the plot for the readers and the overall tone you were going for?

Between is a strange, fantasy land that exists in the moment between being awake and falling asleep. There’s lots of things in the Between that would like to do nasty things, like stealing children to plant in a monstrous garden so they can feast on their souls. A plucky, no-nonsense girl called Molly realises that danger lives very close to home, and must travel Between to stop any more children going missing.

I wanted it to feel a bit spooky, with nice moments of horror, but for it, overall, to be a bit of an adventure. Fun. Each of the three Tales From Between so far have a slightly different feel. I think the next one leans more into the horror. The third one, more of a dark fairy tale.

The book contains a couple of sections that border on horror (without being at all gory). How important are moments like this and is it difficult to know where to 'draw the line'?

I love a good scare. A moment of creep. An image or idea that will play on a readers mind. With a book for younger readers, you do have to walk a fine line, of course. But then kids love a scare. We worry too much about children’s delicate brain-stuff; I say they can take it. In fact, they demand it.  As long as it’s not going to permanently traumatise them, I’m fine with it! There was a moment in Monstrous where a creature gets a knife to the eye, and that did make me stop and consider for a moment. But then I thought ‘Nyeh, it’s a big spider scorpion looking swine, it deserves a point in the eye’. Also, 'The Graveyard Book' (by Neil Gaiman) opens with a man having stabbed a bunch of people to death, and intending to do the same to a baby! I figure, if Gaiman can get away with it, then so can I.


Your initial releases are in the fantasy genre aimed (I think) at 10-12 year old's. What attracted you to this genre / age group?

You’re right; the 'Tales From Between' series is aimed, primarily, at a younger age group. I very much enjoyed ‘Coraline’, and ‘The Graveyard Book’, so thought I’d try and hit up a similar demographic with this series. Stories aimed at a younger audience that more mature people would enjoy reading, too. Mine aren’t half as good of course, but then Neil Gaiman is a genius made entirely of story. Which is a bit unfair, really. It often seems like you can be a bit more imaginative and wild with where you want to go with prose for younger readers, too.

You are giving the eBook version of 'A Monstrous Place' away for free. What prompted this decision and are people still buying the physical book?

First of all, I hate money. Can’t stand it. Offer me some and I’ll sprint off and over the horizon like a tiny, bearded bolt of lightning. Hatred of money aside, I’m giving it away so people will read it. I want to build an audience, and the best way to do that is to get as many eyes on your story as possible. Turn the curious into fans by offering them something they don’t have to pay for.

Some people still don’t much like eBooks, or just prefer a paperback sometimes (especially when the cover is bloomin’ lovely) so I’ve still shifted a few of those.

Do you think paper books still have a place in this increasingly digital world?

I hope so. I buy mainly eBooks myself now, but love physical books, too. Can’t beat a nice shelf full of ‘em. Perching a Kindle on the shelf isn’t quite the same, really. There’s always going to be a bunch of people who prefer the physical books, just like there’s a ton of people who still buy vinyl records.

You have already announced two follow ups in the 'Between' series. How important do you think it is for new authors to start strong 'out of the gate' with a body of work and keep building on that momentum? 

Certainly in the indie world, I think it’s vital. You need to build up a decent back catalogue quickly. Indie writers don’t have a publisher backing them with a big ad campaign for each new release, which means someone who buys one of your books might forget all about you and miss your new work. Have a few things out there for them to sample, and you’re much more likely to hold on to them in the future, to build an audience. It’s also why you need to build a mailing list, so you can tell the people who are interested in your work each time you have something new they might want to check out.

Having more than one thing available, and quickly, also means you’re less precious about individual titles, so are much more flexible in terms of the kind of promotions you can do, or are willing to do (such as giving the thing away to gain attention).

You've chose a self-publishing route for your novels. What would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of this method?

The main advantage is that no one can say no to you. In my script writing life, around 257,000 (approx.) people have to say ‘yes’ to something for it to get made. Which means more often than not, someone somewhere at some point will say no, and the things dead. Another script sat gathering digital dust on your laptop. That was basically why I decided to try the indie route with my prose. I had meant to do the traditional thing and send out my letters to publishers, but when it came to it, I just couldn’t make myself do it. I didn’t want to go down the same frustrating route I was with my script work. Then I found out about people like Hugh Howey, and the guys over at Sterling & Stone, and decided to give the indie world a whirl.

It’s exciting, it’s punk rock publishing. You’re not waiting for a pat on the head, not waiting for someone to allow you to show people your work; you’re just getting out there and doing it. You can publish what you want, when you want.

The disadvantages are many. Such as having to do everything yourself! Unless you’re willing and able to pay for help. You have to market yourself and your work, you have to liase with cover designers and pro-edit people (and pay them out of your own pocket for their services, of course!) and obviously you don’t have a publishing house pushing your work in front of people. It’s also very, very difficult to get your work into physical shops, if that’s something you would like to see.

But the exciting nature of it outweighs all that. I’m not taking the traditional route off the table, I may well try and get a book trad-published at some point, but I don’t see myself turning away entirely from being a bad-ass indie.

You have also used social media such as Twitter and Facebook to help raise awareness / promote your books and you have a fairly irreverent and amusing relationship with your followers. What are your thoughts on this approach and how successful do you think social media is as a marketing tool?

Facebook is useful, in so much as that you can run very targeted adverts to the sort of people who might like what you’re pimping. But as for generally shouting about your work on a place like Twitter, it has its upsides and down. I’ve definitely found some readers, made some sales, because I have quite a lot of followers across a couple of accounts and some will give me a shot, but I imagine it’s also extremely annoying to many. Yet another tweet from me about a bloody book. So I worry about that, a bit.

Moving forward, I think Twitter, and my author page on Facebook, will be places for me to mix with the people who have followed me because they’re fans. It’ll be less about selling, and more about hanging out with people who already like and want my work. Then you’re tending to your people, building that relationship for the long term, rather than shouting into a void, hoping to attract a person or two.

Tell me about the excellent covers for your books and how they came about. Do you think that the cover still plays an important part in the buying process?

Thanks! I think they’re rather lovely. I simply approached pro-designers on a site called 99 Designs. Ran a competition to find the right cover for 'Monstrous', was inundated with a ton of covers, and fell in love with the early version of the cover that now adorns 'A Monstrous Place'. The designer is a real find, and he’s done a further three covers for me now, and I’ll go back to him again in future. I mean, that 'Monstrous' cover is not one of those dodgy covers you can see on indie works washing around Amazon, it’s genuinely fantastic. I was very lucky.


Standard question I know, but which writers would you like to be compared to ?

Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Steven Moffat. Scares, wonder, laughs, imagination, a strong flavour, a stable of fans who love their work.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your upcoming work? Are there any teasers you can give about unannounced projects?

Well I have two more 'Tales From Between' books hurtling towards your eyes between now and February 2016 (and more after that if people want them), and I’m about to release a very creepy tale, ‘Sixty-Six’, in time for Halloween. That’s aimed at adults, for sure.

As for unannounced... I have, at some point next year, the most ambitious book I’ve written so far being released. It features numerous characters facing an end-of-the-freaking-world sort of a situation. It’s a touch 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', a bit 'Walking Dead', a bit Stephen King, a bit 'Triffids', hopefully a bit good. It also might be one where I fall flat on my face. So look out for that.

And after THAT.... well, I want my own 'Doctor Who'. My own 'Hellboy'. My own 'Rivers of London'. I think I’ve found it...

Finally as some may know you as an avid 'Doctor Who' fan and this blog has a lot of 'Doctor Who' content, I have to ask - what is your favourite story and why? (You can have one each from both the Classic and New series).

Classic: Oh GOD. I could go for 'City of Death', 'The Mind Robber', 'The Caves of Androzani', 'Ghost Light', 'Remembrance'.... but today I’ll plump for ‘Survival’, the last story in the classic run. It’s great, modern feeling, with a Master who is actually scary. Seven & Ace, the best.

New: Again, I could say 'The Eleventh Hour', or 'Human Nature', or 'Time of Angels'; but right now I’m going to go for ‘Listen’. IT’S AMAZING. For me, no one can write Who as well as Moffat at his best, and ‘Listen’ is Moffat at his best, plus an extra 10%.

Matthew Stott - thank you very much !

Huge thanks to Matt for being my first victim / guest and for giving such lovely answers to my questions.

Matthew's website is 'The Strange Stories Of Matthew Stott' and can be found at www.mrmatthewstott.com

There is a link at the top left of the home page to sign-up to the newsletter and get your free eBook copy of 'A Monstrous Place'. It really is an excellent first novel from a new author and well worth your time. Plus it's free. Who doesn't like free stuff? A full review will be on the blog very shortly and I am looking forward to seeing how the series develops.

If you prefer your books in physical form then you can grab a copy from Amazon here. It's a bargain at £4.99 and you get to see that wonderful cover in all it's glory plus help support an independent author. Go on, you know you want to.

If you want to follow Matthew on Facebook, you can find him at www.facebook.com/matthewstottauthor

Alternatively if you prefer Twitter you can tweet him at @MattStottWrites 

Matthew's alternate superhero identity as a Doctor Who fan is @DoctorWhoThing 

That persona also has it's own blog at www.doctorwhothing.wordpress.com/

Finally, Matthew's publishing imprint is called 'Fenric Books' and is at www.fenricbooks.wordpress.com and on Twitter at @FenricBooks if you want to cover all the bases. 

Timelord Thoughts 5 - The Girl Who Died

It's that time in the series when the word "romp" will get bandied about. Probably the word "marmite" too as this episode is undoubtedly going to split opinions across the love it / hate it divide. I disliked 95% of it on first viewing and consequently I'm starting to think I was too hard on "Before The Flood". Let's see if a night's sleep and a rewatch has mellowed my opinion. Plus who exactly is:

The Girl Who Died

• A nice tight opening shot of Clara's eyes and some heavy breathing as she floats in space. So far, so "Gravity".

• Four and a half battle fleets? What happened to the other half?
• Spider mines sound like my worst kind of nightmare. Yet someone named one of the denizens (which sucks your brains out through your mouth) a "Love Sprite"? That takes a certain warped sense of humour. Probably the Doctor then.
• I know that horrific feeling when it feels like a hairy something is crawling over your body only for it to turn out that there actually *is* a hairy something crawling over your body. Mostly it's just been cats drooling on my face to wake me up, but once I dreamt there was a spider on my arm and woke up to find out it was real...
• It's a shame all the dialogue about nebulas and stuff gets lost under the explosions and rising loud music. You need the subtitles to really get it. Trust me, this is a topic I'll be coming back to a lot this episode.
• I did like the camera trick of zooming in on Clara's eyes in space and it turns into her being on the TARDIS as the Doctor takes off her helmet. Very well done.
• I could do without the comedy hopping and face pulling as the Doctor crushes the Love Sprite though. In the "800 Day Project" (yes updates on that *are* coming I promise) I'm currently up to "Time And The Rani". I hope that larking about and wildly inappropriate music are the only things that the two stories have in common...
• It seems to be becoming a tradition or old charter or something (or even a running gag) to have the TARDIS crew start the episode at the tail end of a previous adventure. Long gone are the days when the episodes flowed like a continuing narrative from week to week. It's nice that there are sufficient gaps for all the novels and comic strips and BBC audio stories to fit in (even if they are not 'canon' as some say - *cough* "head canon" *cough*). There is even room for the Big Finish audio adventures which are inevitably going to come in, say 2020. The Velosians  are a race that someone will pick up on before then.
• There's the Cloister Bell yet again. Hasn't it rung in every episode so far - and always when Clara is in danger? My theory about where this series is going just took another step forward.
• The TARDIS scenes this series really have been excellently shot. I'm also always been a fan of being able to see the console room from outside looking in. The perspective doesn't quite marry up with the actual set but it's totally forgivable.
• "I'm not actually the police, that's just what it says on the box". I liked that.
• That conversation about what the Doctor can or cannot do and the rules of time travel and ripples and tidal waves is very important - and not just for this episode. Breaking the rules is okay as long as you don't do something big is something the Doctor keeps coming back to, almost as if he is trying to convince himself.
• Vikings helmets didn't have horns. I don't think their swords were rounded at the ends either.
• I stood up and cheered when the sonic sunglasses were snapped in two. Best. Moment. Ever.
• The village location looks quite impressive in the opening high panning shot, with a nice ship moored in the top left corner. 
• The music started out quite subtly too, until Murray pressed the "Medieval orchestral" button on his Bon-Tempi organ as the Doctor and Clara stroll into the village.
• What's with all the gurning and hand rubbing from Capaldi though? It looks like he is trying to wipe off something particularly unpleasant.

 

• Damn - they brought half the sunglasses with them. That means they're going to be in the plot doesn't it?
• Maisey Williams's character is important. Let's make that blatantly obvious.
• A nod to the fact that the Doctor usually does replace the incumbent in charge wherever he goes.
• "Advanced technology can seem like magic". Mis-quoting the great Arthur C. Clarke there.
• Oh god. Capaldi goes full "pantomime on Brighton pier". It's cringe worthy, as are the varying accents. He just can't do this kind of broad comedy.
• Conveniently up pops another "Odin" in the sky - channelling the Teletubbies or Monty Python or one of those really bad 90s Marvel TV movies - and wearing what looks like a masquerade ball mask and two hats. He's brought his own heavenly choir with him too it seems.

 

•  Even the Doctor's inane pratting about can't distract the villagers. Has the yo-yo become the equivalent of the McCoy spoons?
• The "robot warriors" that beam down are a pretty good design Chunky and battle scarred. 
• Sorry? I couldn't hear all that exposition about harvesting and the strongest warriors or exactly what Clara was trying to get Ashildr to do with the sonic monocle the first time round because the damn music was SO LOUD AND INAPPROPRIATE AGAIN !!!
• Still at least Capaldi is able to gurn his shock some more.
• The viking villagers react to a glowing man appearing in the sky and a set of robot monsters spiriting away their bravest warriors as if they've seen it all before.
• Up in "Valhalla" the effect of the warrior being frazzled to nothingness by the lightning fans of doom is nicely done. Tediously we then go into a rehash of the trash compactor scene from "Star Wars". 
• We know it's threatening not because the walls are moving or the people are screaming or the sound effect of metal scraping on metal - no it's because Murray Gold has tuned it up to eleventy one again.
• "I'm not good with heights". Groan. "Gods never actually show up". You know, I quite like that.
• The sonic sunglasses save things again, but for once I can accept it. It make sense that a advanced alien warlord would not destroy those who possess technology that should not be in that time or place. No sorrow for those dozen or so vikings who weren't so lucky.
• Never has it been more clear this series that Clara now thinks of herself as the Doctor's equal. Her speech to "Odin" is *exactly* the kind of thing the Doctor would say. Pride comes before a fall though...
• I like the conceit that "Odin" drinks testosterone to keep him going. I just wish he hadn't delivered those lines with more ham than a whole pig.
• "What is a god but the cattle's name for farmer? What is heaven but the gilded door of the abattoir?" Sounds portentous. Signifies absolutely nothing. It's meaningless twaddle.
• Oh Clara really loves the sound of her own voice too much now, telling Ashildr to "hush". Arrogant, much?
• It backfired though. Ashildr is far more worth cheering than Clara's attempts to tell "Odin" to "spack off" and go bother someone else.

• Again we have the theme of something hiding behind an illusory mask. Not so much 'eyes and teeth' as all teeth - and pretty horrible by the glimpse we got.
• Makes sense that the Doctor would have a 2000 year diary now.
• The thumbs up and the hug just about work.
• More telling us that Ashildr is *important* - and she's not even died yet. Interesting that she is another character that makes prophecies.
• Another Monty Python reference, when the Doctor basically tells the villagers to "Run away!" ?
• The part where the Doctor translates the baby crying into "I am afraid...and I will sing" is silly but also quite lovely.
• I know the Twelfth Doctor is full of put downs and nasty remarks about other races, but did he have to be so disparaging to the vikings honour? As for "Yeah baby", what is this, Austin Powers?
• No I'm sorry, the Doctor's reasoning for not helping the village make no sense in the context of everything else he has ever done. Aliens have tried to invade and been defeated dozens of times before. The Tenth Doctor even said that Earth had been noticed now. The world didn't end. I'm all for not having to slavishly adhere to every last shred of continuity but let's have some character consistency please. It's creating false jeopardy again just so the plot can have a right turn in a few minutes when the Doctor suddenly has an epiphany and decides to help after all. 
• See? All it took was a baby crying and a translation of "Fire in the water". Oh and don't forget Clara telling him what to think.
• I did like the Doctor's alternative names for the fighters. Especially Noggin the Nog and ZZ Top.
• So they were practicing with real swords and hurt themselves, so the Doctor gave them fake ones. I get that. But the way the scene plays out it seems he instantly decides to give them the real ones back again without any further training. Odd.
• It's the comedy episode. I'm going to have to live with that. So I'm not going to complain about the next scene with the roof burning and vikings fainting and all that tomfoolery. I could, but it would be as pointless as this scene.
• The viking hall set is pretty impressive. It's not quite Edoras the hall of the Rohirrm from Lord of the Rings but it does the job nicely, with some quality wood carvings.
• I also like the pan along the banqueting table with all the men looking suitably pensive before the battle to come. It's the first time they have felt like real people, so it's a shame it's over in seconds.
• I think the Doctor is starting to realise just how much Clara has been changed by her travels in the TARDIS - and not necessarily for the better. 
• "A good death is the best anyone can hope for unless you happen to be immortal". That's a very telling line for the Doctor, this episode and the current series as a whole...
• That's the second time that Clara has joked about an attraction towards girls. Now I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever, apart from the fact that it's come a bit out of left field for the character.
• Clara confirms that she has focussed her control freak nature on the Doctor.
• So that's the fifth episode in a row that the Doctor has expressed more than average concerns for Clara getting killed. Why has her safety become of such importance (this "duty of care")? I have a theory...
• I do like that fact that Clara calls the Doctor out on always coming up with a solution at the last minute.
• Ashildr seems to be caught between being a child and being a woman. One moment she is a viking warrior with all the bravado, and the next she is making puppets and being scared. It could be a sign of her growing up or her special nature - or it could just be bad characterisation.
• There you go. Now she is a wise head on a young body being unnaturally rational about the impending death of her people. What's interesting is that she almost seems to treat them as *her* people, as if she *needs* to be there and is watching over them. There is more going on than just her being "strange".
• And a touching moment between father and daughter is totally undercut by the Doctor. I am not sure I like this aspect of his persona.
• I'm not totally sure but I can't help feel that Matt Smith would have been so much better at the running around madly and crying "I've found it! I've found it!". Capaldi just looks...awkward.
• "He's been at it hammer and tongs". A moderately acceptable joke.
• Electric eels? Not in Viking Europe there 'ain't. Not unless this is a long lost tribe somehow transported to an incredibly temperate South America.
• Time for the subtitles again as I didn't catch a word of what the Doctor said there because Murray's brass section was in full flow.Something about spacesuits and being happy. Probably unimportant.
• I think the Doctor is going to defeat the Mire by talking them to death. Actually that's unfair as he is only trying to instill some confidence in the villagers and it appears to be a fairly well thought out plan. Strangely I don't recall this scene at all from my first watch.
• I can honestly say I really disliked the whole scene with the dancing and the "party". Yes I get that it's all meant as a distraction while they set up the trap for the Mire, but did it have to be so badly acted by all concerned?
• Okay, it's Doctor Who, I suppose I can suspend my disbelief and accept that some on-the-wrong-continent fish, a bit of what looks like copper wire and some anvils can generate a huge electrical shock and some damn strong magnetism, Exciting isn't it? We know this because Mr. Gold has thrown all his instruments into a blender, found the "Celtic jingles" button and created a sound that Keff McCulloch would be proud of.
• Whoa! Okay! I wasn't expecting that. The real faces of the Mire are seriously horrible, like something Clive Barker would come up with after a large amount of cheese last thing at night. Far more interesting and threatening than the robot heads. I think they're compensating for something though as their heads are far too tiny for those large bodies.

• "Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow. I bet that means something, it sounds great". Best line of the episode - which has been seriously lacking in decent zingers.
• I'm not entirely sure I get how holding a Mire head over her own allows Ashildr to create illusions. Only "Odin"'s face was a hologram and he wasn't wearing a suit of armour, unless the same technology is in his lovely hat with wings.
• Still it's a reasonable enough dragon and it's not meant to be 'realistic' as it's a creature from a story.
• The Mire do retreat a bit quickly. They might not have their weapons but they do have some hulking great suits of armour. All bullies are cowards in the end.

• Oh good. Fart noises.
• So that's it? The Doctor defeats a band of space marauders by recording their most embarrassing moment and threatening to upload it to the galactic version of You Tube?! Seriously? I bet he'll keep the £250 if it's shown on "You've Been Framed" too. Oh. Wait. I've missed the point. It's supposed to be funny isn't it? Original maybe, but hilarious? Why am I not laughing?...
• Er, when exactly did the Doctor have time to hack the teleporter?
• The Mire spaceship was nice. That's something.
• Goodbye Ashildr. You were so brave but the Doctor got it wrong this time.
• The Doctor says he is "so sick of losing people". I can understand that he feels guilty about Ashildr after promising her things would be okay. But his reaction is about more than that. Are the pieces starting to fit together for you yet?
• "I can do anything". More shades of the Timelord Victorious coming out. Something has been building within the Doctor for a while and this has finally pushed the him over the edge.
• At last we have an explanation for why this incarnation of the Doctor looks like Caecilius from "Fires Of Pompeii". A lovely clip of the great Catherine Tate and Mr. Tennant from that episode (can it really be over seven years ago?).

• So it's a reminder that he is the Doctor and he saves people? Seems a bit  obvious really - isn't that what he always does? I was expecting something a bit more...clever? Still it's Capaldi's best scene in the entire episode (it needed to be). You can feel his rage.
• "To hell with you! Well one of the final episodes is called "Hell Bent" so I think the Doctor may come to regret his actions here.
• Hmmm. Using the Mire battlefield medical kit shaped like a throat lozenge is a bit convenient and low key. It does the job though even if half a paid of sonic sodding sunglasses can now reprogram incredibly powerful alien technology in an instant. They may as well just give the Doctor superpowers and be done with it.
• Again the best scenes are between father and daughter. For once this episode Murray just lets the actors do their job. Now the Mire have gone, with all their stomping and bluster, the episode has picked up significantly. 
• Now the Doctor has created an immortal - possibly two if Ashildr uses that other lozenge on the love of her life as he seems to suggest. That can't be good. He called Captain Jack Harkness an aberration in time (or words to that effect). This is going to cause far more than a few ripples. There is a tsunami coming I reckon, and not just next week.
• Right there, in the woods outside the TARDIS doors is the most important scene in the whole episode and possibly the series so far. "Immortality is everybody else dying". That's what it feels like to be a Timelord wandering in eternity and maybe the real reason the Doctor never stands still for too long. "She might meet someone she can't bear to lose. That happens...I believe". For the Doctor it has already happened. What might a man with face that reminds him he can save people and who can "do anything", risk at that point? If you can go anywhere in time and space...?
• A line from the Seventh Doctor's era as this incarnation realises he has done something very, very wrong and may have just created an alien hybrid. Davros said that the one in the prophecy was an amalgam of Timelord and Dalek, so this can't be the same thing. Can it? Oh Moffat are you orchestrating the biggest ever shakeup to Doctor Who history? Time will tell...
• The final scene where Ashildr experiences an endless succession of sunrises and sunsets across the centuries is just beautiful - and terribly sad. Her expression goes from one of a young girl full of life and happiness to one of despair and loss. "Immortality is everybody else dying". Living forever may be more of a curse than a blessing, although if you can't die, nothing will hold any fear for you . At the very end she looks almost...dangerous.

Conclusion:

While I think this week's episode will probably tick the boxes for many people, for me it was just a mess. More of a pantomime equivalent of Doctor Who rather than the kind of episode I enjoy watching. It bounced along in it's own sweet way, blasting out the eardrums with terrible music, forced and unnatural dialogue and laboured attempts at humour. Not at all what I expected from the writer of last years excellent "Mummy On The Orient Express". There were the odd moments certainly but they couldn't wash away the bad taste... until those final five-ten minutes. Then it metamorphoses into a totally different episode with the Doctor emotionally making what appears to be a big mistake that will have ramifications for the rest of the series. If they capitalise on that in the right way then this "two parter" could finish strongly.

Sadly the next time trailer look like more of the same kind of hi-jinks we had this week, made even worse by the sonic sunglasses looking as they are back in action. However I have just had a thought about those too which feeds into my series nine theory....

...and I'm going to try and gather my disparate thoughts and post exactly what I think is going on later this week before the next episode airs.

Timelord Thoughts 4b - Before The Flood - Print Version

So in a way that kind of parallels this episode, I wrote this "print version" post before I recorded the podcast, but published the "audio version" post first which talks about something I hadn't done yet. If you understand that then you'll have no problem with:

Before The Flood

• Ah now. That opening sequence. I've no problem with the Doctor breaking the fourth wall. He's done it before ("And a Merry Christmas to all of you at home"). The Twelfth Doctor has even done it himself (sort of) in "Listen". But the show has never been this blatant before. This didn't just break the fourth wall, it smashed through your screen, ripped off your arm and slapped you in the face with it. Maybe the Doctor *knows* he's just a character in a TV series? I'm also not sure that you should start your story by saying to the audience "In order to understand the following plot you are going to have to do some homework".
• Having said that, Capaldi sells the scene completely, coming across as a cross between a "Jackanory" presenter reading you a story (Google it) and a particularly brusque history teacher (and I've had a couple of those).
• Of course the Doctor is a lover of vinyl albums. None of this here today, gone tomorrow digital format nonsense.
• I take it back. The bookshelves are still there and looking fuller than ever. It also looks like the Doctor has taken to displaying a few of the items he has picked up on his travels. Very homely - although probably a nightmare to clean up every time the TARDIS makes a sudden jolt.
• "Very intense. Loved an arm wrestle". Great line.

 

• I'll come back to "The Bootstrap Paradox" properly later on but I'll just say this - Robert Heinlein. Harry Potter. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Blink. And another film which oddly enough is the next post in the "View From The Fifth Row" series on the blog.
• A "Magpie Electronics" stamp on the amp. That little man from "The Idiot's Lantern" sure did well for himself. Plus could that be a... clockwork squirrel on top of it?
• I bet Peter Capaldi himself suggested the "rock" version of the theme. They just about get away with it but I'm not dying to hear it again and the guitar doesn't mesh well with Murray Gold's screeching.
• So O'Donnell knows the names of some of the Doctor's companions (only the new series ones mind you) I'd have been more impressed if she had mentioned Barbara, Dodo or Tegan.This season is very keen on referencing the past isn't it? You'd almost think we were at an anniversary or something.
• Shouldn't it have been that she was in UNIT intelligence?
• I do like the way the Doctor wets his finger to tell what year they are in. Very Fourth Doctor.
• The Minster of War. You don't chuck in something like that into a script for no good reason. Expect that to pay off either by the end of the season or perhaps when Capaldi leaves (Moffat loves his long games). Maybe at Christmas even.
• The Doctor expects that he'll find out about the Minster of War "soon enough", which means that he believes he has a future beyond this current adventure. So why is he so adamant that that his ghost is a future he can't change? (I know I'm getting ahead of myself)
• The "It's bigger on the inside" fangirl moment. Just no.
• Well that was convenient wasn't it? The spaceship just being there all nice and easy to find. And left open too.
• I quite like Albar Prentis. At least we now have an explanation for his Dickensian garb. Not sure why he says "and humans too" - what was he expecting to find on 20th Century Earth?
• Prentis is a bit like an exaggerated Dicken's character anyway. Some might say there are hints of "League of Gentlemen" or even "Psychoville". Who am I to argue.
• You can just catch that his business card has the slogan "May the remorse be with you"

• So the Arcateenians (weren't they featured in Torchwood once?) want the Fisher King buried on a barren savage outpost. Don't you think that they'd kind of, you know, make sure he was dead first?
• "A selection of items you could oppress me with". That made me chuckle.
• Why does the Doctor ask Prentis if he used a "special kind of pen" to rip people's souls out to send the signal? He's one of the ghosts. Surely he wouldn't kill himself?
• Meanwhile back on The Drum. There's that dragon painting with the people in what looks like a Viking boat again. Hiding in plain sight. Remember I called it here first. It's important. Somehow.
• Nice that it's Lunn comforting a scared Clara rather than the other way round.
• Important that Lunn's name is not on the list the Doctor is mouthing.
• See? "This isn't a potential future. This is the future now. It's already happened". You can't foreshadow a yet to be seen adventure AND convince the viewer that the Doctor is *definitely* going to turn into a ghost. Nor make us believe that the Doctor thinks that as well.
• If changing the future would cause catastrophic ripples across time then why doesn't that happen every time the Doctor gets involved and changes a planet's history? It's just creating a false sense of peril.
• Why does the Doctor refer to this regeneration as "A bit of a clerical error"? Is it because it's the first of a new cycle given to him by the Timelords or is there something more at work as part of the season arc?
• God Clara really is SO needy. It's the control freak in her coming out again. She hasn't dealt with the loss of Danny Pink at all. All this talk of death is definitely heading somewhere. I don't think for a moment that Moffat will kill her off - except that he might. My friend Al has a theory about the season finale and I am inclined to agree with him. It'll be very interesting to see if he is right. I'm not going to reveal the theory here because I don't want to steal his thunder but anyone who has heard his thoughts on previous seasons may be able to figure out where things might be going.
• Fantastic wide shot of the TARDIS console room there.
• Of course the Fisher King is still alive. Lovely use of shadows on the walls to indicate his size and shape. Bye bye Prentis. A shame you did so little after all that build up.
• Ghost Doctor opens the Faraday cage and lets the others out. I'll come back to this in a bit.
• This is really going for the Classic series vibe with a game of capture-release-imprison-escape isn't it? Otherwise known as padding.
• The look that the Doctor has as O'Donnell insists on leaving the TARDIS. He *knows* what is going to happen.
• Can I just say, I do like the Soviet era trappings that have been left in the village and the general dilapidated feel of the whole place. The sets and locations are excellent this year.
• Bennett's naive faith that a flimsy wooden chair will keep out a hulking alien monster is endearing.
• Yet another great example of "less is more" with the Fisher King only partially glimpsed though the shattered window the Doctor and Bennett are hiding in.
• Sorry O'Donnell, I know that the scene of plastic dummies having dinner against a mountain backdrop might be interesting but there is an alien killer on the loose. This is no time to pause and sight-see. First rule of alien-avoidance - don't turn your back to the doorway...
• When she does turn round (slowly) she just stands there like it's the most normal thing in the world. I would have expected a scream or an attempt to run away and a clawed hand coming out to grab her. It's a pathetic end to an interesting character.
• To finish her off we get a half-hearted moan from O'Donnell - who appears to not have a scratch on her.
• Nice to see that Bennett isn't an idiot and notices the order of the victims and calls the Doctor out on his failure to try and prevent her death. 

• "I'm a dead man walking. I'm changing history to save Clara". Except five minutes ago you said you couldn't change anything to save anyone - and if the order is correct and you stop Clara dying then you won't die either Doctor. I think.
• Okay now that sudden appearance of O'Donnell in front of the porthole was a real jump out of your seat moment. I'm a (supposedly) grown man so who knows what it did to the little ones.
• A little bit of the Timelord Victorious creeping into Capaldi's Doctor there. I wonder if there might be a race of people somewhere in the universe now who will have things to say about him trying to transgress the laws of time... The TARDIS doesn't seem keen either. 
• Hang on, if the Doctor was trying to travel back to Clara - who is in the future in 2119 - and the TARDIS won't let him leave, why did he go backwards half an hour in time? Why not stop dead or just zip forwards five minutes and that's it?
• It's a nice speech from Capaldi about how they can't warn Prentis or O'Donnell because "you can't cheat time". At least it would be if that wasn't exactly what the Doctor is planning to do. Rule number one, the Doctor lies. Now I know that this all feeds from that piece to camera the Doctor gave at the top of the show about Beethoven, so obviously he's going to figure out a way to keep time flowing on it's natural course without dying. Those of us with memories of season 6 will recall that he's done something similar before, when the Eleventh Doctor was apparently "killed " by the Impossible Astronaut at Lake Silencio - and it turned out to be the Tesselecta. It's a well worn time travel trope, so the interesting bit is seeing exactly how he resolves the conundrum this time. One part should be obvious to everyone watching by now. It's not a Bootstrap Paradox though. Not yet. Do you need a diagram?
• The Doctor says that they "don't have that right" to tell Prentis about his impending death. He must get really fed up then because people are doing it to him all the time. He can't move for prophecy this or foretelling that about his imminent demise.
• I don't blame Bennett for wanting to try and save O'Donnell. I am sure we would all do the same for the ones we love given the chance. If you didn't realise they had feelings for each other, the soft focus, sunlight steaming through her hair, swelling music will spell it out for you. Cass and Lunn's potential relationship has been dealt with much more subtly.
• At least they covered the bang and O'Donnell turning to look at something from the earlier original scene. It's all gone a bit "Back To The Future 2" where Marty McFly hides from himself at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance. Thinking about it that film needed a diagram to sort out the timelines too. It also echoes an Alan Moore short story in 2000 AD called "Chrono-Cops". Still if you're going to steal from other time travel stories...
• Now we know why they went back in time 30 minutes. It was so they could fit in this scene  / dialogue. Push home exactly how hard this thing the Doctor is doing is meant to be. 
• Finally Clara figures out the thing about Lunn that was obvious to the rest of us ages ago. It's true that being with the Doctor has changed her and made her more...pragmatic? With other companions the Doctor made them into "weapons" (which I think is debatable) or helped them realise their true potential. With Clara I think she's at risk of losing her humanity and becoming as alien as the Doctor.
• Yet again the actors playing Cass and Lunn really make you believe that there is something bubbling underneath the surface, but they just can't say it to each other. Cass's distrust of Clara's methods is truthful to her feelings for the man she has become so close to.
• We've had three utterances of "Back to the TARDIS" in the last eighteen minutes (I've been counting).

• The Doctor's confrontation with the Fisher King would have been the ideal time to explain how he created the ghosts. Wouldn't it? Is it as simple as he shoots them with that thing that looks like an alien shotgun? The thing that the Arcateenians just conveniently left wrapped up with him in those bandages still full of energy? They make the Tivolians look like geniuses. 
• The scene of Lunn creeping around the base and then being surrounding by the ghosts as they almost seemed to be sniffing him to see if he had the co-ordinates in his mind was genuinely eerie.As good as anything a mainstream Hollywood horror film could come up with. 
• The Fisher King's people will drain the oceans? Exactly what for? A nod to "The Underwater Menace" perhaps. Or "The Web of Caves"...
• He refers to the Doctor as "one man, lost in time". Could be something. Could be nothing. Could just be a reference to the fact that the Doctor said he was from the future.
• I knew collecting the phone wouldn't be that easy. I love the way that Pritchard's ghost just happens to float by to gloat.
• Good old Cass. She's the real hero in this episode.
• The Fisher King really is an excellent scary creation. It's refreshing to see a monster design which, facially at least, looks nothing like a normal humanoid - and no attempt has been made to give it a human mouth either - those mandibles are nasty. It's a nine foot tall piece of evil with an immobile face and fibreglass carapace. It makes me feel all warm and nostalgic inside.

 

• So further evidence that the events of the Time War caused the Timelords to change from being non-interventionist "curators" to "the most war-like race in the galaxy". I'm not sure any reunion is going to be a happy one.
• Sorry Clara, you're not as all-knowing as you think you are. Cass tricked you very easily.
• And now Doctor Who does slasher films, as the axe dragging Moran stalks poor Cass.
• Don't we already live in a universe ruled by cats? I know I do.
• The Doctor's rant doesn't quite make sense. A "ghastly" future would one ruled by the Fisher King. I think what he means is *any* future is better than one ruled by this alien overlord. Also strictly speaking he robbed them of their lives, or maybe even their afterlives - not their deaths. That doesn't sound so melodramatic though.
• Back to the ghostly stalking. It's the standout scene in the episode, especially the way the camera expertly cuts back and forth from the metallic sound of the axe on the floor to the total silence from Cass's point of view. It looks like this particular ghost has a warped sense of humour. The tension ratchets up and up...

• It's just a shame that it's spoilt by Cass going all Marvel's Daredevil on us with her vibration detecting powers. (I know she's not got powers but the effect is the same, as is the imagery used). She could have just turned around. Despite this, Sophie Stone really gives it her all and looks genuinely terrified.
• That was all bluff from the Doctor wasn't it?
• In and out of that bloody Faraday cage. It's all getting a bit tiresome.
• When exactly did the Doctor have time to schlep all the way over to the dam wall and plant the power cell as an explosive? The only gap I can find is during that half hour leap back after which we see him say "Now I'm ready".
• We've seen the security protocol holograms before but what's an echelon circuit? Notice that the hologram has last seasons suit and short hair.

• It's a nice effect of the dam cracking up and the water rushing towards the Fisher King - who can do nothing but embrace his impending destruction. I hope we haven't seen the last of his race. It's a shame that more wasn't made of his name though. As others have pointed after out last week's episode, one of the original Welsh legends of the Fisher King (in the Mabinogion) has him called Bran the Blessed, who has a cauldron that can resurrect the dead but they cannot speak.
• Come on - we all knew that there was no chance of it being anyone other than the Doctor in that stasis unit.
• Oh for **** sake! The stem of the sonic sunglasses fits into any electronic receptacle? I feel one of my headaches coming on.
• So the Doctor ghost was just a hologram, thereby keeping the flow of time intact. Basically the same solution as the Tessalecta then. That's a shame. 

• How could the sonic glasses beam the hologram into the base when the Doctor (and the glasses) were either in the past and/or locked in the stasis chamber? If they have the power to project from within the chamber, how come the Doctor couldn't see that he was within it when it was first brought aboard the base? It just doesn't make sense.
• Likewise saying that the reasons the ghosts only came out at night was because they were "electromagnetic projections out of phase with the base's day mode" is just nonsensical bobbins.
• Bennett's message to Cass and Lunn and it's effect is just lovely. Anyone who thinks that relationship came out of left field hasn't been paying attention properly.
• The Doctor's putting an awful lot of faith in the UNIT of 2119 to clear up the mess.
• Very nice to see this Doctor smiling too as he explains the predestination loop and how there never was any threat from the Fisher King in the present because the Doctor had killed him in the past.
• And *there's* the bootstrap paradox. The Doctor only knew what to do because he'd told himself what to do. Wikipedia just went crazy.  

Conclusion:

Nowhere near as good as last week, with some shameless padding,  The final trick of how the Doctor survives was too reminiscent of other episodes and there were also several big unanswered questions, logic gaps and plot holes:

• How can the ghosts pick up metal objects? I can fan-theorise that it might be something to do with them being electromagnetic projections but was it ever properly explained?
• If everything that happened in 1980 was already history by the time The Doctor and Clara first arrived on The Drum, then why wasn’t O’Donnell’s ghost there the whole time along with Prentis?
• What was the reason for the hollowed out eyes - apart from it looking scary?
•  Why did Clara have to wait for a second phone call from the Doctor at all? A couple of hours may have passed for him back in 1980, but for her it should have been instantaneous and the phone should have rung the moment she ended the first call. Time travel remember?
• Exactly why did the Fisher King have to drag the stasis unit into the church? Wouldn't his plan have worked just as well with it still in the ship? Or was he worried that someone not of his race would open it up and kill him?
• So the ghost Doctor let the other ghosts out of the Faraday cage so that it would force Clara, Lunn and Cass *into* the cage, knowing that Clara would put the phone outside and that the ghosts would steal it, forcing Lunn to go and get it and for him to get trapped and the others to go rescue him so they would all be next to the stasis chamber when it opened and the Doctor could jump out and save the day. No sorry I don't buy that.
• Okay so the dragon painting didn't have anything to do with this week's plot resolution - but look closer at it. It's three people travelling in a (time) ship menaced by a creature who's face sort-of resembles the Fisher King. Did another version of the Doctor paint it there to give a clue to himself?  

So I think what disappointed me most is that this episode wanted to be original but ended up just spoiling some of it's own mystery. They have a prologue that states "This is the theory that's going to form the cornerstone of the plot resolution" and at the end gleefully revel in "look how clever we were". But by giving the upfront lecture, it kinds of stops you putting the puzzle together yourself (the "a-ha!" moment as I've taken to calling it). It's like revealing the solution to a magic trick before performing it. I've nothing against reverse structure narratives ("Columbo" made an entire show out of showing you the criminal first and then how the detective figures it out.) and I love time travel paradox stories, but this just didn't work for me. It contradicted itself several times and tried to paper over the cracks with other stuff that also didn't make sense. Overall it was lots out of ten for effort and creature design but minus quite a few for a second half that failed to live up to its promise.

Timelord Thoughts 4a - Before The Flood - Audio Version

Something rather special this week as I've finally fulfilled a long-held dream to appear on a Doctor Who podcast with some of my favourite people.

"The Doctor Who Show" has evolved out of the incredibly successful Doctor Who  / Star Wars podcast "Who Wars". While the primary show doesn't start until January 2016, during the transmission of Series 9 from September to December 2015, we are treated to "The Doctor Who Review Show". This features many of the same people from "Who Wars" - plus some new voices - discussing the latest televised episode.

The show follows a magazine type format with initial sound bites on the episode in question, followed by individual reviews from different groups of the review team. Interspersed with these are more 'informational' pieces. For example in the last episode covering "Under The Lake" there was a section on the history of the Master / Missy presented by author Iain Martin and a great piece on real life sub aquatic research from Andy.

The heart of the show is "After 9", a 20 minute long review segment hosted by combinations of Al, Andy (formerly of the "Diddly Dum" podcast) and Beth (formerly of the "Binro Was Right" podcast), plus occasional special guests - and that's where I come in.

I feel incredibly privileged to have been asked to take part in the discussions about "Before The Flood". We have been talking about doing something on and off for nearly a year now but each time we got close, circumstances got in the way in one form or another. Now at last the time has come and I only hope that I didn't make a ham-fisted embarrassment of myself ! Seriously, the recording went really well and if Beth hasn't completely edited me out, you should be able to hear us talk about the episode at length  as soon as episode 4 of the podcast is released.

"The Doctor Who Show" can be found at http://thedwshow.net and is on Twitter at @theDWshow. Details of the individual Twitter accounts for the regular team can be found on the website. The easiest way to listen to episodes is to follow the links to the show posts and there is an embedded media player.

Alternatively you can find the show on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/the-doctor-who-show/id1041891186 (or search your podcasts app) or the RSS feed is http://theDWshow.podbean.com/feed/

Please give it a listen, if not because of my involvement then because of the huge array of talented and interesting individuals that are a regular part of the show. Huge thanks to Beth and Andy for having me. Although writing the blog is my main thing, you never know, I might get the opportunity to do something like this again one day...

By the way, I will be posting my usual "bullet point" thoughts on "Before The Flood" as well, hopefully early on Monday.

Timelord Thoughts 3 - Under The Lake

Some good old fashioned traditional "base under siege" stuff from Doctor Who this week. Or is it? Remember these are just the things I first thought of when I watched the episode, so they might not be very clever observations and I may have missed something that explained one of my questions. It's time to go:

Under The Lake

• "The Drum" is a great name for an undersea base.
• So even though this is another two parter, we get the whole "find an alien craft on the seabed and bring it inside for investigation" part over in the first 20-odd seconds, which is very modern and economical (and gets around the need for seme probably expensive FX). There must be a lot to get through. In the Classic series this would probably have been the plot of the whole first episode.
• It does look a *little* bit too much like a Starfleet shuttlecraft though.
• Immediately I get shades of "The Impossible Planet" with the odd writing on the walls.
• It's a very empty cargo hold though isn't it? And why does no one think to investigate the "control pod" at the front of the craft? I know there are those circular things that "top hat guy" waves his hands at to set off the thrusters, but surely there must be something more?
• Talking of the see-through creature -  those black spaces where his eyes should be are incredibly effective. I'm not entirely sure why he is dressed like a extra from a Dickens adaptation though. 
• And with that Moran is fried to a crisp and becomes a "ghost". A fantastic pre credits sequence.
• I love that the Doctor is talking to the TARDIS like a living creature again.
• Clara comes across as a bit hyper. Maybe the death of Danny Pink has pushed her too far and she is becoming a little reckless. Conversely the Twelfth Doctor seems more relaxed and at ease than before. There is even a fleeting smile across his face.
• I wonder what the significance is of the painting on the wall of a giant sea serpent menacing sailors in what looks like a Viking ship. It seems a strange thing to put in an underwater base. It can't be co-incidental.

• No sorry, that "high five" moment just didn't work. 
• "Hello sailors." Nicely done Doctor.
• Capaldi is doing some wonderful facial acting. Those eyebrows are certainly getting a workout. In fact both Capaldi and Coleman are doing wonders conveying loads with just a glance.
• I'm also amused by the way he runs up the steps of the alien craft. No? Just me then.
• All the alien writing looks like to me is "14 - 51 - 14 - 54", yet when reflected in their eyes it looks far more ornate.
• Oh that hand coming through the wall between them was proper scary. If I had a small child with me right now they would be peeping through their fingers.
• It's a lovely thing that O'Donnell is such a big fan of the Doctor, but I thought he was trying to keep a lower profile these days?
• Okay so I get that Lunn is there as a character to vocalise what Cass is thinking (as most of the audience at home can't read sign language) but it's odd that he says that he "signs for Cass". Surely Cass is quite capable of signing for herself and she can evidently lip read too, so what does she need Lunn for? Maybe what Toby Whithouse meant is that he's there to sign of the rest of the crew - to speed up communication perhaps. Even so, with a limited crew and resources on an underwater base, I'd expect him to have a primary function - say marine biologist -  with signing being his additional job.
• Lovely bit with the Doctor boasting that he can read sign language before realising that actually his knowledge only extends to semaphore.
• Wasn't the planet Tivoli where David Walliams' character came from in "The God Complex"?
• Nice to see that this episode is being even more "traditional" by being about mining. It's always mining (Colony In Space, Monster of Peladon, Robots Of Death, Vengeance On Varos and many many more).
• I'm always suspicious of a sweet sounding female computer voice. They usually turn out to be homicidal maniacs. Perhaps I've just played too much "Portal" (There will be cake).
• Pritchard's got to be the next to die hasn't he? Only concerned about his bonus. "You're an idiot" indeed.
• Heaven forbid that being underwater was dangerous enough, they had to have a nuclear reactor too.
• Cass seems very keen not to let Lunn look inside the spaceship. She's stopped him twice so far. Either she has more than comradely affections for him or Lunn is going to prove pivotal to the resolution of this story because he is the only one who has not looked at that writing.
• Pritchard's greed is really starting to show.
• Sock's, smartphones and... badgers? Maybe a sea badger?!.
• The Doctor seems SO excited to realise that the creatures are really ghosts that he's gone into fan-service overload. In once sentence he references holograms (Mummy On The Orient Express), Flesh Avatars (The Rebel Flesh), Autons and the Nethersphere (Dark Water).
• The prompt cards are just brilliant and the funniest thing in an otherwise pretty dark episode. Does "It was my fault. I should have known you didn't live in Aberdeen" refer to where the Fourth Doctor left Sarah Jane Smith?

• If the "ghosts" can only pick up metal, how did Tivoli Dickens-guy set off the engines by waving at  that panel of circles? Or did he actually touch them because they *are* metal?
• Love the Shirley Bassey gag.
• I told you that you can't trust those pesky female computers. The TARDIS doesn't like the ghostly "aberrations" either.
• I've only just noticed that the bookcases seem to have gone from the TARDIS console room.
• Even the Doctor has noticed that Clara is getting a bit gung-ho. This is clearly going to be one of the arcs of this season and I'm not sure it's going to end well.
• Bye bye Pritchard. You know he'll be a hollow-eyed translucent killer in a mo. It'll probably be an improvement.
• Was that meant to be something behind Pritchard's eyes or just the back of his skull? Either way it was damned odd.
• I'm not sure how much damage he's doing to do with a plastic chair though.
• Sophie Stone is just wonderful as Cass. She doesn't need to utter commands out loud to show that she is in charge. It's also lovely to see that her deafness is not part of the plot or commented on really at all - it's just who she is. It's a hugely positive message.
• And a "Cabin In The Woods" reference too.
• Would they really still be using Morse code in 2119?
• Using "Apple" instead of numbers goes all the way back to the early RTD years. "End of the World" wasn't it? 
• I'm not sure I'd want to live on a base where the flood locks and security systems don't work fully at night. A leak could happen anytime of day. Bit of a design flaw there - or maybe it's just that nasty Vector Petroleum  trying to save money at the expense of crew safety.
• Thank goodness the Doctor didn't try and sing "Ghostbusters " again.
• Oh that shot of the ghosts half in the walls or standing upside down or sideways is just *so* disconcerting. Now the scares really begin...
• The monitors with the floor plans, along with excellent use of the corridor sets and the Doctor's commentary really gives a sense of scale to the base.
• Why has no one asked how the intangible ghosts can show up on the base monitors?
• Yep I was right. The Prichard ghost can't kill Lunn because he hasn't read the alien script on the shuttle wall. Which means that those words are what makes them ghosts rather than just, you know - dead.
• And here come the sonic sunglasses again. Sigh. Now able to project holograms.
• Oh dear god they have wi-fi too. Actually I have a theory having watched this scene. I reckon that Toby Whithouse needed some way for the Doctor to transmit what he was seeing in the Faraday cage back to the crew on the bridge (wall mounted cameras being too obvious). So he thinks "Hmmm, sunglasses with wi-fi seems like a good idea - let's make them sonic, that will be a funny joke". Moffat then says "Rather than them appearing out of nowhere, I'll seed them into the previous story instead of the screwdriver". Job done. It's helped the plot. Let's never see them used ever again.
• The point where Moran thrusts his hand into the Doctor's chest (and presumably squeezes one of his hearts) is reminiscent of a number of movies, but specifically reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
• Ha! I love that the Doctor was just faking it.
• The concept of people saying the same things at the exact same time is similar to "Midnight", but "Dark Sword, Forsaken Temple" sounds like a 1970s prog rock band.You hum it, I'll play it...

• I'm sorry, the four words are - co-ordinates? I get that it *sounds* clever (although the Orion's sword thing is very specific) but it smacks a bit of creating mysterious clues just to have mysterious clues. Plus why would they be words in English?
• I do like the bit about the ghost being transmitters though. Silently shouting out the four words across the universe. That's horrible and just a little bit sad.
• Good to see that spiky, impatient Doctor hasn't vanished this season.
• Can I just say that the music playing when the Doctor does his "Do you want to go or stay?" speech is some of the best for a long while. Genuine movie quality without overwhelming the dialogue at all.
• For one minute I thought they were going to put on wetsuits and go out into the water. The submersible is a much better idea.
• There are real cinematic shortcuts being taken with the episode this week. Firstly we just get the sub out there in the water, we don't need to see it being launched or exploring . Then once they have discovered the object we instantly cut to it being back on the base. It all helps the keep things moving and lends a palpable sense of pace to the story.
• Lovely to see the Doctor using proper deductive reasoning to work out what is going on and deferring to others to help.

• Notice that when the Doctor talks about the markings and the co-ordinates / words  - and "did anyone not expect them to be that?", Lunn puts his hand up (even though the Doctor talks over him). That's because he hasn't read the words.
• I want to see the clockwork squirrel !
• Peter Andre. "I was begging for the brush of death's merciful hand". Best line in the episode.
• Nope. The "I want to kiss it to death" line doesn't work for me. It just doesn't sound like something the Doctor (or anyone) would say.
• Yet again they have a base with the world's worse safety protocols. Reactor overheating? Just flood the whole damn base.
• Am I the only one who thought the water rushing into the base  in one shot looked like foam? Shades of "Seeds Of Death" or "Fury From The Deep".
• It's not exactly "Titanic" levels of water rushing in but that one CGI shot did look pretty good. Nice dive under the door from the Doctor too.
• I *know* I'm not the only one to make this "Lost" connection with Clara and the Doctor on the opposite sides of the flooded passageway...

• Now *that's* how you do an old-style cliffhanger. How could anyone not want to tune in next week?

Conclusion:

Despite one or two bumpy areas this was a really solid adventure with a lot of fond nods to the classic story structures of the past. It's probably deserving of the later time slot because it's certainly one of the scariest (for kids anyway) for quite a while. Going back in time for part 2 is an innovative move and it will be interesting to see where they go with the story.

View From The Fifth Row 7 - Frequencies

So on to the second of my trio of unusual "puzzle box" films and this time it's "Frequencies":

Imagine an surreal alternative world where luck isn't random. Where every single person on Earth emits a specific harmonic which determines their success in life. The higher the frequency, the more luck you have. You never miss a train - in fact it will arrive just as you step onto the platform and you'll probably find a dropped £50 note as you do so. You'll always meet the perfect partner. You'll always get the right job. Things just have a way of working out for you. Conversely the lower the frequency you have, the more unlucky you are - you will be clumsy, forgetful and keep just missing out on things. You will be doomed to a menial life. Your frequency determines relationships, connections, and life worth - and means that everyone knows what they can achieve and their place in society. It's all very structured and orderly and predetermined.

There are two fundamental issues though. The higher your frequency, the less you feel, with the very highest being emotionless savants with no empathy for the rest of the world. Secondly, people from opposite ends of the frequency scale can never be in close proximity for more than a minute - otherwise the world starts to rebel and strange phenomenon spontaneously occur - random items fall from the sky, earthquakes shake the ground, glasses shatter, etc, etc. Opposite forces repel each other. So what happens when a boy and girl from these two worlds meet, and keep meeting? Can you change your frequency? Can you alter your destiny?

Isaac-Newton "Zak" Midgeley (Daniel Fraser), is a lovable but incredibly low frequency schoolboy who meets and is totally smitten with top of the class Marie-Curie Fortune (Eleanor Wyld). Her frequency is stratospherically high, which means she's brilliant but has the emotional abilities of a robot - although being a genius means that she can fake some normality (in one scene she declares "I experience no joy. If you ever see me smile, laugh, frown, or cry, I'm pretending."). Even so, she *wants* to feel love. Ignoring his parents and teachers telling him that he will never be able to be near her, Zak wants to challenge fate and attempt to win Marie's heart. As the characters grow from kids to teenagers, Marie arranges for them to meet for exactly one minute per year as part of an experiment. Every time, Zak smiles and flirts, and Marie focuses on the science and what she can learn about their frequency repulsion before it brings down disaster from the sky. In between these brief encounters, Zak devotes himself to finding a way to change his frequency to bring them closer together - roping in best friend Theo (Owen Pugh) to help him. Eventually as a young adult, Zak seems to have managed this impossible feat  - Marie begins to feel, Zak grows a little luckier and the pair can touch. Unfortunately his discovery has much wider, sinister, world changing ramifications and a history that goes back centuries...

Again, I can't reveal much more without spoiling the plot - but I can say that fans of Stephen Moffat's style of Doctor Who with things "hidden in plain sight" will find much to love here. The events of the film are told from three different perspectives and key scenes are replayed several times to reveal that what you thought you knew was based entirely on what you *didn't* know and new information totally rewrites your view of what has gone before. It's very, very clever and I loved it. Writer-director Darren Paul Fisher has created one of those rare original science-fiction films that has a fully realised world of unique ideas at its core, rather than flashy special effects and it truly challenges the mind. The ambitious film touches on a lot of important themes - class division, free will versus fate, the uncertainty principle, the law of attraction, the awkward feelings we all have as teenagers when we are trying to find our place in the universe and how it works and the healing power of....ah well, that would be telling.

In a decade of prequels, sequels, remakes and reboots, it's so refreshing to find a low-budget movie this original. If it can be compared to anything I guess it would be "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" with it's deft combination of sweet romance and humour overlaid onto a highly imaginative concept. It's well worth 105 minutes of your time. You might even discover what "OXV" means.