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Doctor Who: The Pilot

Bill: 'I can't just call you the Doctor. Doctor what?'

I'm not going to lie, I've been decidedly lukewarm about season ten. The teasers failed to tease me, the promise of things to come felt decidedly unpromising, and there was a real paucity of genuinely interesting news to whet my appetite. Even the John Simm news leak last week failed to ignite my enthusiasm. And Nardole being upgraded to full-time companion felt like the final kick in the goolies. This is your final season, Steven. Your last chance to go out with a bang. Where are the big names, cool surprises, and the promise of gratuitous ex-companion cameos?

Of course, that's the thing about surprises: they tend to be surprising. So once I'd got my head around the fact that we don't know everything that's going to happen this season, and that future revelations are practically guaranteed, I calmly unknotted my knickers, spat the dummy from my mouth, and settled down with an open mind... only to discover that this episode was actually pretty good. It was beautifully filmed (the library and Christmas scenes in particular), refreshingly slow paced, mostly character driven, and gave off a distinctly Shada-esque (Big Finish) vibe. Sure, Nardole was still utterly pointless (I'll get to him in a moment), and it was oddly lacking in the usual thrills and spills we've come to expect from a season opener, but as a companion introduction, it's probably one of my favourites of the new era.

A lot has been said about Bill's sexuality prior to this episode airing. I read somewhere that Bill would be outed as a lesbian in her second line of dialogue. It wasn't quite that quick, but it happened early on, and was effectively done. True, her fat joke felt a little inappropriate in today's (hopefully) more enlightened climate, and the explanatory dialogue occasionally felt a tad incoherent, but I thought Bill's introduction felt organic, and mercifully her gayness wasn't played for laughs or shock value. Pearl Mackie is someone I have no prior knowledge of, so this was my first exposure to her acting, but so far I'm liking what I see. And if at some point they end up finding Heather again, I'd be okay with that. I'd also be cool with the whole season revolving around them scoffing chips.

Interestingly, Bill actually feels like a real person, and I don't think I've felt that way about a companion in a while. Maybe it's because she's working class, or maybe her deductive leaps don't seem quite as improbable as we've seen from companions of old. In fact, the way she reacted to time travel by almost vomiting, and her rational analysis of the Doctor's deceits, all felt reassuringly grounded in reality, and to be quite frank, were a breath of fresh air. Shame Nardole had to pollute that fresh air with his toilet humour. I like a good poo joke as much as the next person (assuming the next person isn't my grandma), but this is the 21st century guys. You're going to have to do a lot better than nicking a gag from the 1960s, bunging it in Lucas' mouth, and hoping that nobody will notice.

I have nothing against Nardole as a character, and I certainly don't dislike Matt Lucas, he just never seems to do anything interesting. He could quite easily have been excised from tonight's episode, and the story would've been none the poorer for it. That's three episodes in a row where he's been virtually redundant. I'm tempted to think that he wasn't even supposed to be in this episode, and was written in at the last minute, such was the generic nature of his dialogue. In fact, his lines could quite easily have been Bill's, and those that couldn't did little to round out his character. He was a gimmick in 'The Husbands of River Song,' was superfluous in 'The Return of Doctor Mysterio,' and did nothing to justify his place aboard the TARDIS tonight. I get that Moffat has a story in mind for him—at least I hope he does—but when's it going to manifest in something compelling?

The villain of the week, despite not really being a villain at all, I thought worked well. She was probably a little underdeveloped, but her bodily secretions were an eerie tip of the hat to 'The Waters of Mars', and the jump scares were effectively done. I'm not sure Heather promising to never leave Bill was the most convincing way of explaining her obsessive behaviour, but it served to tell us something about the Doctor's new companion, set up a potential future plot point, and was kind of sweet to boot. In fact, as an introduction to Bill, I'd say tonight's episode was a resounding success. As a season opener, I'm perhaps less enthusiastic. It was a little too low-key, which in an episode specifically crafted as a jumping-on point for new viewers, is frankly less than optimal. Still, it's early days and we still have the draw of John Simm to come. I just hope Moffat writes his Master with more subtlety than Davies ever did.

Other Thoughts:

—This episode was originally called 'A Star in her Eye' but was renamed 'The Pilot' presumably to reflect the soft reboot. Odd timing for a reboot, though, especially with a much bigger one due next year.

—Bill's hair under that party hat looked magnificent.

—Murray Gold's score seemed horrendously over-the-top at times. Occasionally, it was deliberately beefy to enhance the humour, but more often than not it was far more dramatic than what was happening onscreen.

—The name of the new Doctor has allegedly been leaked online. If you want to know who it is: Google it. Might be a load of bollocks, might not. Isn't the internet exciting/annoying?

Quotes:

Doctor: 'Any questions?'
Bill: 'Is this a knock-through?'

Bill: 'Look at this place. It's like a...'
Doctor: 'Spaceship?'
Bill: '... Kitchen!'
Doctor: 'A what?'
Bill: 'A really posh kitchen. All metal. What happened with the doors though? Run out of money?'

Doctor: 'The vault alarm went off, but it was nothing. A student was sick outside and it registered as a biological attack.'

Bill: 'I know what a mind-wipe looks like!'
---
Also posted at The Time Meddler.

11 comments:

  1. I thought it was quite low key for a season opener as well, but since I generally like low key ones that suited me just fine! I enjoyed this one too, especially the water effects, although I'm not sure why the Heather creature grabbed Bill on the planet only to later stand staring at her on the Dalek ship and then offer to take her with... maybe it realized she didn't want to come?
    Will the new spinoff Class be reviewed on this site? I didn't know it was coming, so that was a pleasant surprise! I enjoyed the pilot, and it was fun that there was a little shoutout to Buffy

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  2. I can only speak for myself, Nonei, but I watched Class last year when it first aired, and didn't really take to it.

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  3. While this episode did a great job introducing Bill, the main plot was Who by numbers. And Nardole really does feel like the answer to a question no one asked or even considered.

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  4. Paul, that's what i greet for not googling things lol, i though class was new... I enjoyed the pilot, or at least found it promising. As far as Nardole... it's a shame because i like that character, but I barely notice him because he's just not used well.

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  5. OK, I have to ask... who is Nardole and why are we supposed to remember him?

    I mean, I did google him, and I know what episode introduced him, but... I still can't remember him. Was there anything special about him?

    The alleged leak looks... the same. I mean, sure, it would be a different Doctor, but continuing the long-standing tradition. I really hoped they would try something different. Like, Gugu Mbatha-Raw different. (That's not my idea, BTW, I saw that on YouTube).

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  6. Migmit: Apart from being River's alien companion who ended up getting his head chopped off, that's about it. I guess we're supposed to be wondering how the Doctor managed to reattach his head. Unfortunately, I'm just wondering why he bothered. Matt Lucas was a nice bit of stunt casting in 'Husbands', but I'm at a loss to explain why he's here at the moment. Perhaps he'll turn out to be awesome.

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  7. Agreed on nearly all points. I think the characterisation (for the two leads anyway), the humour and how well shot it was, meant I was onboard for most of it even though the plot was paper-thin.

    Speaking as someone who isn't a fan of the more zany, twee Capaldi, I thought they nailed The Doctor in this one by playing to Capaldi's strengths. It clearly works for a lot people and that's fine but I thought Capaldi was at his worst when gurning and being quirky. He's a fantastic actor and when he's in his wheelhouse, he's one of the best at what he does. But he simply doesn't have the comedic range to pull off quirky, whimsical humour. And that's fine. No one can do everything. It's just incredibly disappointing that they keep going back to that well with him. It felt like they'd really got a handle of how to use him best by the end of Season 8 and 'Last Christmas' but then the Series 9 opener comes along and they're doing it again with the tank scene which sent me behind the sofa and not in a good way.

    I think this is partly why Capaldi hasn't completely been working for me (as much as I love his portrayal) because they've taken so long to figure out how to play to his strengths and so he'll often feel like a different character from episode to episode by virtue of being pulled in various directions characterisation-wise.

    Also, I mostly disagree about Nardole. I didn't love him in HoRS but between RoDM and this one, I've been loving his character. While like you said, he definitely didn't need to be here, Matt Lucas's amazing timing and delivery meant I wouldn't want it without him. Pretty much every line of his had me laughing out loud. Even just a simple 'Ooh' is magic in his hands/tongue. The 'banter' part in particular had me rolling.


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  8. I also thought that Bill immediately felt like a real character, and I wonder if that's because the central mystery of the season doesn't revolve around her. With Amy, she was the Girl Who Waited with the crack in her wall, with Clara, she was the Impossible Girl, but Bill just feels like Bill. And I like Bill. She seems like she'll be a good addition to the TARDIS.

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  9. I guess Bill being gay means that there will be no female 13th doctor to avoid any romance. Unless she's just a one season companion. I'm a bit dissapointed in that one. I'm not going to google the spoilers who's the new Doctor though.

    The episode was a good companion introduction, probably the vault will be the season's mystery. What is it, who wants it, why is it under a university?

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  10. I have studiously avoided Dr Who since the Tom Baker years, but heard how good Pearl Mackie was and decided to chance it. I know have on season pass on my DVR.

    I, for one, as a new viewer, am glad they took the slow approach and built up the characters. An action-packed opener would have sent me back to my (self-imposed) exile.

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  11. Bill is an excellent companion and after the irritation that was often the situation with Clara, and to a lesser degree with Amy and Rory (who I do actually like, but they had some serious bumps in the road over their stay in some cases that brought them down a bit for me), Bill was such a breath of fresh air. She reminds me of classic companions, in a very good way, without the issues of them being too screamy at times.

    Nardole is a mixed bag for me. He's not as annoying here as I expected after the onerous Husbands of River Song, and slightly better Return of Doctor Mysterio. I wish new Who would realize that we don't need the overarching story every single season, and would just let us enjoy some strange and wonderful adventures at times. The Vault does eventually work out of course, but it wasn't all that great of a setup.

    I also agree with Flophairedwuss that I prefer this Capaldi over him trying to channel Matt Smith (like in Robots of Sherwood with the spoon for example), and he comes off almost like a Pertwee/Hartnell or Pertwee/Colin baker mix, while bringing his own presence to the role when he's like this.

    As for the actual story this week? It was alright I guess? It felt like it was just there to introduce the characters, and was largely forgettable.

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