Hide the Centre of the TARDIS

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen the last two episodes of Doctor Who, please leave the blog and come back later. The following reviews will contain spoilers. Also, there is some swearing in the "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" review. I couldn't help it, honest.

Doctor Who - "Hide" - Review

After watching "Cold War" I was really excited to see how creeped out I would be by "Hide." However, "Hide" seriously failed to deliver on the scares. It also failed to deliver in most of the other aspects as well, in my opinion. I wasn't engaged with the story at all.

A couple things really stuck out to me as things I didn't like. First, the "Empathic Psychic." Empaths and psychics are two very different things, in my geeky little head. An empath senses and, in some cases, can manipulate the feelings of those around them. The term "psychic" is more of a blanket term for anyone with abilities seated in the mind. This includes, but is by no means limited to, empaths, telepaths, and precogs. It seemed to me like Emma Grayling was both an empath and a telepath. I guess what bugs me in this sense is just the funky terminology. I am a pedantic nerd, so sue me.

The second thing that really bugged me were the monsters. They were really effective up until the end, though it was never really explained what their purpose was. One of them got trapped in the pocket universe and they transformed the "ghost story" into a "love story" but other than that, they didn't do anything. Also, when we finally got a look at what was apparently the male monster, it looked horrible. Like, how does that even work? It looked like someone had messed with a human face in photo-editing software and come up with a twisted-looking thing. Or, ya know, one of those "parasitic twins" or something.

And then there were the specifics surrounding the TARDIS jumping into the pocket universe. Apparently, in 4 minutes (more likely seconds, I'm horrible at those details), the Eye of Harmony would be drained of power. That's what stopped the Doctor from using the TARDIS in the first place. However, the TARDIS then flies herself through the pocket universe not once, but twice. What? How does that even...? I just don't get it.

Finally, we'll get to some things I did like about the episode. I enjoyed Clara talking to the TARDIS. I'm a big fan of her recognizing that the TARDIS is a living thing, rather than just a machine. Also, the TARDIS using Clara's image as the hologram was fantastic. I laughed at that.

Overall, "Hide" failed to do any of the things I expected it to and then pretty much died in my head.

Doctor Who - "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" - Review

Unlike "Hide," "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" was excellent and truly terrifying. I do have a few niggles with it, but that's mostly in terms of characters... which I'll get to later.

Like other Whovians, I was really excited for this episode. Seeing more of the TARDIS is always fun. Based on previous TARDIS bits we've seen and those shown tonight, my favorite rooms as The Wardrobe and The Library. The Wardrobe room we got to see in "The Christmas Invasion." I just wanna go play in there. The Library, on the other hand, I just want to completely lose myself in. Also, I'd like to know how the liquid Gallifreyan Encyclopedias work. It was pretty awesome hearing small bits from that bottle Clara spilled. Also, I found it interesting that The History of the Time War is kind of just sitting there, highlighted. Seems slightly weird considering how much The Doctor wants to forget about it.

Anyway... the rest of the episode... right...

I thought the concept of time leaking out all over the place was cool. I didn't call the molten "creatures" as future echoes. I had no idea what they were until The Doctor essentially told Clara. They were terrifying enough on their own, especially after we saw the brothers turn into them. However, I'm not sure what had the future echoes attacking the present. I'm also really not sure you'd be doing any kind of moving after that happened to you.

I thought the brothers were... creepy. They were creepy pretty much from the get go. As I said in my Initial Reactions, if Firefly taught me anything, it's to beware of salvage ships. For those who didn't know, and so I can not refer to them as numbers, their names were: Gregor, Bram, and Tricky. Gregor, though less stupid than Bram, was pretty much killed off asap, which was good for keeping up with The Doctor, Clara, Bram, and Tricky. Bram was a completely selfish asshole of an idiot. First, let's not listen to The Doctor and do stupid things. Then, let's find out what you and Gregor did to Tricky. Who the fuck does that?! No, seriously, what kind of person/people do that to someone, especially their own brother? Especially their "kid brother." Bram and Gregor were seriously cruel people. Tricky, I liked. He was obviously in tune with the TARDIS, even before he got inside her. That sounds wrong... but you know what I mean. Though... didn't Tricky need to eat? Ya know, since everything but his eyes and voice box was still human... just a random thought.

I quite liked how the TARDIS was characterized here. First, she ejects The Doctor... apparently. How else would he have gotten out? She gets royally pissed at Bram after he takes her circuit. I loved how she out-smarted him. Then, she saves Clara, despite not liking her. And then it's revealed she's acting at least somewhat like a wounded animal. The final reveal of her "wrapped her hands around the force" was just amazing. Not to mention the CG that must have gone into that bit... wow. If I wasn't so attached to the TARDIS before, I definitely would have been with this episode.

And finally... the reset button. It was cute. It was very "wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey." Though now it raises a few questions. The Doctor's conversation with Clara about Oswin and the previous Clara now never happened. So... when it that gonna take place again? Or is it? Does Clara still know the Doctor's name? And then the Van Baalen brothers... are Gregor and Bram ever going to tell Tricky he's not an android? Okay, that last one I don't really care about, but it's there.

I can't wait for next week's episode!

Housekeeping

Why yes, I did post the Reviews after the Initial Reactions for this evening.

Also... I'm really hoping certain things in my life don't happen so I can watch Warehouse 13 tomorrow night. Yup, I'm reminding you it's back tomorrow. I, for one, can't wait. It's been entirely too long.

Love ya, Jessie.