So we’re in Victorian London and there’s a dinosaur on the loose. Doctor Who must be back on the telly. Where else would you expect such a confounding opening scene merging merry old England and prehistoric times?
But the Doctor doesn’t recognise his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) nor the lizardy Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her wife Jenny (Catrin Stewart) or butler Strax (Dan Starkey), aka the Paternoster gang, before fainting on the banks of the Thames.
“I don’t understand. Who is he?” asks Jenny.
“That’s him,” says Clara. “That’s the Doctor.”
“Well then. Here we go again,” Madame Vastra replies.
Indeed. With that we barrel headlong into the opening title sequence, marking the next chapter in the life of this 5-decade sci-fi.
Having left the youthful 11th Doctor, our hero is struggling to come to terms with his surroundings. He’s also translating the feelings of the lonely dinosaur, trapped and roaming in London. There’s no ominous crack in the wall to mark his arrival, but he chalks on the floor with all manner of equations, only distracted by the T-Rex in need. However the dino bursting into flames propels him into the plot of Deep Breath.
At the centre of this first episode are cyborgs and a ‘dino-murder,’ although they feel like two separate tales.
One of the best scenes was a two-hander between the Doctor, dressed in a bedraggled nightgown and a tramp in an alleyway. Here we learn he’s confounded by his new appearance. He’s aged, he’s grey and -and he speaks Scottish (David Tennant must be jealous).
“Look at the eyebrows. These are attack eyebrows. You could take bottle-tops off with these!” he gasps.
A restaurant scene with Clara and the Doctor sparkles with the chemistry between Capaldi and Coleman as they bicker over a newspaper ad that has drawn them to lunch. But this is a most deceptive of restaurants where the guests are all robots who don’t breath.
“Anything we can do?” she asks.
“How long can you hold your breath?” he replies. In typical Steven Moffat-style, it’s a line that will become more relevant as the plot unfolds.
The restaurant hides a lair of robots turning themselves into humans with body parts, where Clara is left in jeopardy and an action scene ensues. How can one not mention the score that brims with adventure and heightens emotion across the episode? It helps elevate this 80 minute premiere into the realm of the big screen.
The most touching part of the episode involves a nod from past to present that is an inspiring fusion of time travel and sentiment. This has always been a show that messes with our hearts as well as our heads, and why we remain longtime fans.
And is it just me? This new Doctor is also momentarily rude (to the tramp and to the “planet of the pudding brains”) and even leaves Clara in jeopardy with the cyborgs before coming to her rescue. It perhaps makes him more flawed and irascible than his recent predecessors.
Capaldi’s Doctor is a return to “classic” Doctors, putting the relative youth of David Tennant, Christopher Ecclestone and, especially, Matt Smith, behind us. He’s seemingly wiser and definitely paternal. Put all thoughts of any romance between Doctor and companion to one side. I’m happy about that. It always felt to me like Doctor Who was chasing a younger audience with hints of unresolved sexual tension amongst recent cast.
After all these years Doctor Who still brings out the child in us all. With Capaldi, a former child fan himself, its legacy is in good hands.
Would highly recommend it to all.
Robert Di Carlo
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