Merry Christmas to all!
The Doctor Who Christmas Special 2014 airs today. Lots of terror and fun in the North Pole. Who you gonna call when Santa’s in trouble? Not the Ghostbusters, but the Doctor!
Two BBC spoilers-y previews are below for 2014’s “Last Christmas” episode.
Now, the full Season 8 of Doctor Who reviewed! With Spoilers.
Through some miracle, I actually managed to achieve my goal of writing a review for each episode of Doctor Who this season. You can check them out here:
Episode 1: Deep Breath: 7.5/10
Episode 2: Into the Dalek: 8.5/10
Episode 3: Robot of Sherwood: 8.0/10
Episode 4: Listen: 9.5/10
Episode 5: Time Heist: 8.0/10
Episode 6: The Caretaker: 7.5/10
Episode 7: Kill the Moon: 8.0/10
Episode 8: Mummy on the Orient Express: 9.5/10
Episode 9: Flatline: 9.5/10
Episode 10: In the Forest of the Night: 7.0/10
Episode 11: Dark Water: 10/10
Episode 12: Death in Heaven: 10/10
Throughout the reviews, I think I said plenty about how I felt about the season, but I did want to hit on some quick things before we let the season go…well…at least until the Christmas Special.
- Peter Capaldi was terrific as The Doctor. He put a ton of emotion into the role, but still kept The Doctor fun and entertaining. It’s only been one season, but if he keeps on like this, he will definitely go down as one of the best to ever play the role.
- Jenna Coleman was much better as Clara this year. Last season, so much time was spent on “What is the secret of the Impossible Girl?” that she never got to show off her personality. She was able to step up her game, even carrying episodes on her own like “Flatline.”
- Would have never thought I would say this based on his first few appearances, but Danny (Samuel Anderson) really ended up being an excellent character. When his story was brought together in the last two episodes, it really changed my feelings about everything we had seen him do.
- In terms of favorite episodes, Dark Water and Death in Heaven are hard to top. But Listen, Mummy on the Orient Express, and Flatline come damn close. In any other season, those three episodes could have easily been the best episodes.
- All in all, there weren’t any episodes I really hated this season. “In the Forest of the Night” comes close, but even that episode had plenty of redeeming qualities.
- I would definitely rank this among the best seasons in the history of Doctor Who. It was just incredibly consistent with no stinkers at all. When your weakest episode was still a 7/10, you definitely did something right.
- I loved that this episode’s story was basically straight forward. No time tricks, no alternate realities. Just the Doctor pitted up against his best nemesis in an epic battle. And in the end, it’s very hard to tell who won. Michelle Gomez might have been a little too over-the-top at times, but I still thought she was great as The Master, and I definitely hope she comes back in the next season.
Overall: 8.5/10 – I did think Deep Breath got the season off to a bad start, though it straightened out real quickly. All in all, I loved this season, and I want Peter Capaldi to stick around for a long time.
Stay tuned for my full review of Doctor Who’s 2014 Christmas Special. Have a wonderful Christmas Day with family, friends and the Doctor!
