Doctor Who s12e01 spyfall - SPOILERS DUH

[mr friendly guy]

I am been critical of Who in recent years, but this is a solid 4/5.

I didn't see the twist coming, that the Master is Indian. Yeah totally didn't see that one coming. That kind of explains how he was able to trap the aliens who can even penetrate the TARDIS (albeit with difficulty).

It harkens back to classic Who of the Pertwee era, like how where the Doctor acted as UNIT adviser, this time recruited to help MI6. It also has classic Who tropes such as the Doctor telling some wild sounding story about aliens and daring you to challenge the narrative. It reminds me of the time Tom Baker's Doctors would say that. In this case, its Whitaker's Doctor accusing one of the suspect villains of being in league with the aliens. You can tell the character knows she is onto him, but tries to brush it off by accusing the Doctor of being insane. Oh, and it also ends on a nice cliffhanger like classic Who.

There are some contrived flaws of course. Like why did the runaway car at the start pause a while, giving the Doctor time to come up with a plan to take control of it. Why did they need to shoot the head of MI6 when these teleporting aliens can just come and kill him? It however doesn't detract from the episode.

Now since this is part one, could it have problems in part two? Yeah. There are some signs which are very gimmicky IMO.

For example the Master cryptically saying "all you know is a lie." All I can say is, the payoff for that better be good.

The other gimmicky thing is these aliens with languages which isn't recognised and hints they are from another reality. OMG, some aliens which even the knowledge of the Time Lords don't recognise. Its sort of like a Worf Effect, but knowledge instead of fighting. Of course a simple reason the language isn't recognised is that its simply a new constructed language, since you know, the theme of the episode is spying. I will have to see the second episode.

All in all, a fun episode and looking forward to episode 2.

[madd0ct0r]

I was pretty disgruntled. Terrible writing and script, and budget spent on the setting.

I get that the whole thing is a bond pastiche, and thus you need the glamorous settings, car chase and private jet, but I think at some point someone should have just said 'a bond pastiche isn't working, can we drop some of these elements and tighten the script?'

The gang's lack of use in the script was even lampshaded 'is he just here to comment on the obvious?', but I don't want arch self referential nods to flaws, I want a better plot!

Lenny Henry was good and menacing as a very self controlled villan. Sacha Dhawan brought an interesting squirmy style to the normally manic master. Judgement withheld until we see him more in action. (the plot magic of him being in M16 for years, living in the outback for 2 years, and still having time to run the plot and remote control pilot the plane (while sprinting behind it) and procur a deadlock bomb from nowhere... oh man. Send the script back for edits).

The monsters appear to be some sort of light/energy feeder.

[mr friendly guy]

The gang's lack of use in the script was even lampshaded 'is he just here to comment on the obvious?', but I don't want arch self referential nods to flaws, I want a better plot!

Huh? Yas and Ryan were used to spy and they hacked relevant information from Barton's computer. Graham was the only one who didn't do anything in that particular scene, which is a bit of a tongue in cheek jab at how old DW companions didn't do anything. However the scene works in universe, because it turned out the sarcastic comment came from the Master, a character who is pretty much contemptuous of most people.

[Lost Soal]

(the plot magic of him being in M16 for years, living in the outback for 2 years, and still having time to run the plot and remote control pilot the plane (while sprinting behind it) and procur a deadlock bomb from nowhere... oh man. Send the script back for edits).

It's hardly plot magic for the master to infiltrate an organisation in disguise, it was a large part of his shtick for years.
Being on his own in the middle of nowhere for two years means he has nothing but time to work on his plan.
He wasn't remote controlling the plane, Barton was flying. The Master teleported him out.
You really think building a deadlock bomb is beyond the capabilities of The Master?

There are some contrived flaws of course. Like why did the runaway car at the start pause a while, giving the Doctor time to come up with a plan to take control of it. Why did they need to shoot the head of MI6 when these teleporting aliens can just come and kill him? It however doesn't detract from the episode.

The Master wanted the reaction at the end more than he wanted to simply kill The Doctor

[Bedlam]

(the plot magic of him being in M16 for years, living in the outback for 2 years, and still having time to run the plot and remote control pilot the plane (while sprinting behind it) and procur a deadlock bomb from nowhere... oh man. Send the script back for edits).

Given his Australian house was flying alongside the plane it's probably his TARDIS so time is not a limited resource, he could have zipped back to his MI6 years at any point.

[Tribble]

Maybe I missed it, was it established whether this Master is post-Simm, pre-Missy, or post Missy? IIIRC they were deliberately vague on what regeneration she was in the Doctor Falls.

[SpottedKitty]

Hmm... did anyone else think the "phasing-in" effect the aliens used was very reminiscent of the "ghosts" that turned out to be Cybermen in one of the early NuWho episodes? And where did we last see the Master...?

[Bedlam]

They do look a little Cybermanish but they don't really move or sound like them. They also seem a bit like the 'boneless' or maybe even an updated version of the Vardan's from the Invasion of Time.

Until the Master reveal I thought they would be a returning villain but I don't think they'd go for two returns in a single story.

[madd0ct0r]

(the plot magic of him being in M16 for years, living in the outback for 2 years, and still having time to run the plot and remote control pilot the plane (while sprinting behind it) and procur a deadlock bomb from nowhere... oh man. Send the script back for edits).

Given his Australian house was flying alongside the plane it's probably his TARDIS so time is not a limited resource, he could have zipped back to his MI6 years at any point.

Huh. what was the era the master had their own tardis?

[mr friendly guy]

(the plot magic of him being in M16 for years, living in the outback for 2 years, and still having time to run the plot and remote control pilot the plane (while sprinting behind it) and procur a deadlock bomb from nowhere... oh man. Send the script back for edits).

Given his Australian house was flying alongside the plane it's probably his TARDIS so time is not a limited resource, he could have zipped back to his MI6 years at any point.

Huh. what was the era the master had their own tardis?

In the Pertwee era he had his own TARDIS but he got stuck on Earth after the Doctor sabotaged it. This makes it easier to have the Master encountering the Doctor frequently since at this time, the Time Lords had exiled the Doctor to Earth.

By the Tom Baker story the Deadly Assassin he had two, one which he used to escape. In the Keeper of Traken its likely he had two, one which he disguised as a humanoid statue and the other one as a column.

Over the years of classic Who he had a TARDIS, so its not surprising he found a new one or had a spare TARDIS somewhere since we know there are episodes where he is shown to have at least two.

[Broomstick]

Hmm... did anyone else think the "phasing-in" effect the aliens used was very reminiscent of the "ghosts" that turned out to be Cybermen in one of the early NuWho episodes?

Yes, but I don't think they're Cybermen. I do think they're from outside our universe both from that and the bit about the TARDIS not translating their language, showing no readings, etc.

[Bedlam]

Huh. what was the era the master had their own tardis?
[/quote]

Some of the current era as well, Sim's apparently had a broken one somewhere in the Cyber-levels in World enough / Doctor Falls and Missy gave him the part to fix it (presumably he stole it from Gallifrey after he got 'fixed') although Missy seemed to have lost it when she appeared as she always used the wrist mounted Temporal Manipulator.