Doctor Who: Deep Breath (2014)

Absolutely brilliant

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The Doctor lands in Victorian London where a Large dinosaur is on the loose. The Doctor has regenerated into his latest incarnation and is behaving very erratically. On site are the Doctor's Victorian trio, Madam Vastra, Jenny and Strax. Parts are being taken from people, eyes, organs etc, and even the Dinosaur is killed for parts. The Doctor discovers a foe with similar to behaviours to one he'd previously encountered, but there is a darker foe waiting in the wings. I utterly loved Peter Capaldi after this one episode, he has managed to bring a mass of energy and craziness to the role, I found it incredibly infectious. It felt like a true crossover from Classic Who. Interesting conversation with the tramp about his face, possibly a recognition from Pompeii.I also find this the strongest performance from Jenna Coleman too, a brilliant Clara story. The phone call she does brilliantly.I don't mind saving I have grown to utterly love Strax, didn't get the appeal at first, now I love the Victorian trio.I love the Doctor and Clara's scene in the restaurant, it's a really creepy realisation, when they discover the other guests aren't eating.The opening credits took a bit of getting used to, I didn't like them initially but I grew to love them, reminded me of those used in Tom's last series.Love Missy at first sight, wasn't that the Garden from the Girl who waited? It was obvious Missy would be something special.The story itself is truly brilliant. I'm always up for a bit of Victorian drama, and this hits all the right notes, it's a seriously clever, beautiful looking episode. It's also very dark and engaging, such a great opener. 10/10

Our first real episode with Peter Capaldi is a nice introduction to him, I think. I think the episode itself is merely okay (in Victorian London, a cyborg who has taken so many human parts since its construction it is now more human than robot could be a threat to the Doctor and Clara), but it does a wonderful job, I believe, of commenting on the backlash that might have resulted in an older actor's casting of a treasured sci-fi character that had been portrayed previously by three much younger actors. Clara is (obviously, and why wouldn't she?) having a hard time adjusting to the new face (and age?) of the new Doctor that has "replaced" Matt Smith. She just doesn't know if she can get used to Capaldi's Doctor. I felt that this episode does a swell job of showing a "babe introduced to a new world out of the womb" in how frenetic and confused Capaldi acts to his surroundings right after his regeneration change. I think a regeneration is a traumatic event that truly changes the Doctor as he behaves, looks, and reacts differently with each transformation; it takes time (and why wouldn't it?) to adjust to such a change. So we see the Doctor gradually become more comfortable in his new skin while Clara herself must slowly embrace who this man now is. Who could expect that any companion can just brush aside the man they have become so fond of and close to for this new man with such a different face and disposition? There's a scene where it appears Capaldi leaves Clara to be killed by the lead cyborg harvesting human organs (it even kills a dinosaur that had caught the Tardis in its mouth, which stuck in its throat bringing it in time with the Doctor to Victorian London!), and she must orchestrate a means of protecting herself in dialogue with it. The banter between Doctor and companion has always been a thing of value I place on this long-lasting show. Chemistry between them can make or break the series. Sometimes casting is great and other times perhaps not so. I think the 80s was a down decade in that regard. But I think the 2000s (Piper, Gillan, and Coleman) certainly hit it out of the ballpark. Matt Smith's era was especially worthwhile in the relationships of Doctor and companion. I loved seeing how the companions became often so vital in how the Doctor succeeds against his foes, and their rapport during trouble enhances the excitement of scenes where the adversaries (and dangers that come with them) come close to vanquishing them. "Deep Breath" brings back characters seen previously in Victorian London: the lizard-alien, Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her wife, Jenny (Catrin Stewart), and butler, Strax (Dan Starkey). They all help the Doctor against the lead cyborg's army of unemotional robots in form of Victorian humans in an old ship that has been disguised as a restaurant. Missy, later to be determined as the female version of The Master (an old Who adversary), has welcomed the lead cyborg to her "paradise" for "him". The Doctor kept mentioning how the cyborgs remind him of something else (cybermen?) and knowing that really is telling due to how both Missy and the cybermen later factor greatly in a key episode towards the end of this season with Capaldi's version of the "man in the blue box". Neat makeup effects for Peter Ferdinando's half-human/half-robot as half his face is human while the other half shows all the mechanics working within him/it. Smith's call to Clara from Trenzalore, appealing to her virtuous nature regarding helping Capaldi, is a sweet, emotionally potent moment that allows her closure and a renewed interest in continuing on despite the regeneration taking away the man she cared for so much.

-------------Contains Spoilers------------ Let me just say, I can't believe the same person who wrote amazing stories like Blink, Forest of the Death, Day of the Doctor etc wrote this same episode. The pacing was not good it felt like a 40 minutes story dragged to 1 hour 15 minutes. Everyone was wanting to see the Doctor in action but the episode focused more and gave more screen time on Vastra, Jenny and Clara for some reason. As compared to the Eleventh Hour (eleventh doctor's first episode) this wasn't as good as that one because the Eleventh Hour focused on how the doctor is gonna be and 10 minutes after watching Eleventh Hour I was like I love this guy. But here after 10 minutes the Doctor had gotten only 2 minutes of screen time oh and then he fainted. My biggest disappointment from this episode was that THERE WAS NO RUNNING. Since the past 8 years we have been seeing the Doctor run. When he starts running the epic music starts playing you know things are gonna get epic and something awesome is happening. I guess because of Peter Capaldi's age there's no running but usually when you think about the Doctor you think about a very energetic, fun always running around person and Peter Capaldi's Doctor is not that yes he's fun and he tries to act energetic but his face looks worn out and tired like he just wants to go home and finally rest but I guess thats what they are trying to show that The Doctor is tired of running around and just wants to go home and settle in Galafry. Thats something I don't really like. The directing was done brilliantly, the special effects were amazing and the music was good too but I guess it will take us time to get used to the new theme but the writing and the pacing were not very good at all and the opening theme felt like a step backwards. I have a little Doctor Who wish which I really want Steven Moffat to do as this is his last season. Moffat sir you're an amazing writer some of your episodes like The wedding of River Song, Girl in Fireplace, Blink and the day of the Doctor are my all time favorite Doctor Who episodes but Deep Breath wasn't one of your best work. Since this is your last season as show runner you're probably gonna tie up all ends so I guess that means the end of River song. In River Song's first episode she says "You looked different there, and new haircut and a suit we went to see the singing towers the towers sang and you started crying and you gave me your screw driver I guess you knew it was my time to come to the library" please make this happen, i guess by a new haircut and a suit she meant a new doctor it will be the perfect end to River Song so in the end or during this season The Doctor should meet River Song and they should see the singing tower and then the Doctor gives her his old screw driver and says its time for you to go to the library and then we all know that this is the end of River's Run.

As this episode opens one could be forgiven for thinking you were watching an episode of 'Primeval' as we see a tyrannosaurus rex rampaging through London… that is until it becomes apparent that this is Victorian London and it coughs up the Tardis! The Doctor who emerges from it is quite a bit older than the one in the previous series and he is having difficulty with the names of people he should know and with his new appearance. The Doctor and Clara are taken to Madame Vastra's house but the Doctor wanders off. It looks as if he and Clara are to be separated but she spots an advert in The Times which could only have come from The Doctor; it leads her to a restaurant where they are reunited and he tells her how he found her advert! Clearly it was a trap; they are in a room full of creepy automata and it would appear they are on the menu!.The first episode of a new Doctor is always a little difficult to judge; the character is familiar yet also unfamiliar; both for the viewer and the characters who know him. Much of the first half of the episode was given over to getting Clara, and through her the audience, to accept the change… then the real action started. The villain of the story was suitably creepy without showing us what he did in any detail… a family show can't show organ harvesting robots who have made a balloon from human skin! It isn't all scares though; we get a few laughs too, mostly from Strax.Peter Capaldi got off to a fine start in his first full episode as The Doctor; it certainly looks as though he will be quite different when compared to the other 'new-series' Doctors. He is still somewhat manic, so much so that I feared he'd end up in Bedlam as he wandered around London in a nightshirt! Jenna Coleman continues as assistant Clara Oswald so we don't need to get used to two new protagonists as we did when Matt Smith took over and the presence of Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny and Strax provide more familiar faces. The episode is almost double the usual length but at no point did I think the story was dragging. Overall I found this to be a fairly enjoyable episode and have a feeling I'll like this new Doctor.