This is a fun, entertaining and interesting adventure with a great performance by Matt Smith.
This is written by famous fantasy genre writer Neil Gaiman. I think Moffatt aspired to make Doctor Who in Gaiman's fantasy style and Gaiman therefore fits in very well in this era of Who. Although that pure fantasy stuff isn't actually the style I want Doctor Who to generally be, I really like Gaiman's own fantasy work such as Good Omens and think he absolutely nailed the previous episode he wrote, The Doctor's Wife so this could have been another classic. However, it seems Gaiman felt somewhat restricted on this occasion and the episode wasn't quite what he wanted it to be. Therefore it isn't a classic in my opinion but I do think it is a solid, decent episode.
We get a Gaiman style fantasy world with steampunk vibes and Warwick Davies as a mysterious character called Porridge. Then it becomes a fun Cyberman story. The chess games against a Cyberman are perhaps influenced by the excellent 8th Doctor Big Finish audio adventure The Silver Turk. The scenes are certainly reminiscent of that story. It is a great idea so it is fun to see it created, slightly differently, on screen. I think Big Finish deserves more recognition for ideas it creates though.
The flaws I see in this episode include the slightly underwhelming children and the weird ease with which Clara becomes a confident military leader. The episode overall is certainly not the greatest plot or situation or perhaps quite what Gaiman really wanted it to be but the Cybermen are impressive and exciting and the script and action are very enjoyable.
Matt Smith's acting, especially in the scenes where the Doctor is fighting being taken over by the Cyber Leader, is impressive. Warwick Davies and Jason Watkins are strong guest stars and add quality too.
Overall I think this is a pretty nice 'filler' episode. It is not up to the standard of Neil Gaiman's earlier effort The Doctor's Wife but I think it is a bit under-rated.
My Rating: 7.5/10.
My Series 7 Episode Ranking: 7th out of 14.
This is written by famous fantasy genre writer Neil Gaiman. I think Moffatt aspired to make Doctor Who in Gaiman's fantasy style and Gaiman therefore fits in very well in this era of Who. Although that pure fantasy stuff isn't actually the style I want Doctor Who to generally be, I really like Gaiman's own fantasy work such as Good Omens and think he absolutely nailed the previous episode he wrote, The Doctor's Wife so this could have been another classic. However, it seems Gaiman felt somewhat restricted on this occasion and the episode wasn't quite what he wanted it to be. Therefore it isn't a classic in my opinion but I do think it is a solid, decent episode.
We get a Gaiman style fantasy world with steampunk vibes and Warwick Davies as a mysterious character called Porridge. Then it becomes a fun Cyberman story. The chess games against a Cyberman are perhaps influenced by the excellent 8th Doctor Big Finish audio adventure The Silver Turk. The scenes are certainly reminiscent of that story. It is a great idea so it is fun to see it created, slightly differently, on screen. I think Big Finish deserves more recognition for ideas it creates though.
The flaws I see in this episode include the slightly underwhelming children and the weird ease with which Clara becomes a confident military leader. The episode overall is certainly not the greatest plot or situation or perhaps quite what Gaiman really wanted it to be but the Cybermen are impressive and exciting and the script and action are very enjoyable.
Matt Smith's acting, especially in the scenes where the Doctor is fighting being taken over by the Cyber Leader, is impressive. Warwick Davies and Jason Watkins are strong guest stars and add quality too.
Overall I think this is a pretty nice 'filler' episode. It is not up to the standard of Neil Gaiman's earlier effort The Doctor's Wife but I think it is a bit under-rated.
My Rating: 7.5/10.
My Series 7 Episode Ranking: 7th out of 14.