Doctor Who‘s Big New Experiment Is Off to a Very Messy Start

medico Who wasborn and bredon the serial data formatting . When the show first air , floor did n’t end in a single installment — they decide over the form of three , four , five , sometimes as many as 10 installment ! Therevived versionof the show has stayed mostly aside from this idea , favour small train of thought and arcs across seasons , and the occasional multi - parter . But now the idea is back … and perhaps Doctor Who ’s forgotten how to do it .

To be fair to “ The Halloween Apocalypse , ” there ’s a draw more riding on it than the serial of Doctor Who honest-to-god . After all , in those sidereal day , a season of Doctor Who could be 26 episode covering six stories , and season 13 — subtitled Flux for itsmysterious newfangled anomalous threat — is just six sequence long , and urinate it immediately clean-cut it has a quite a little it want to spill about in those six . It ’s just kind of a shame that it spends the first of those delivering a feverish and yet half - hearted scattershot spray ofideas and characters . It ’s hard to judge its premiere as either a cohesive episode that can stand on its own two metrical foot or as a prepared bit of point - stage setting for the story to come .

That is mostly because , in the here and now , “ The Halloween Apocalypse ” is something of an almighty mess ; an explosion of both mind and factual explosions as it dart between chunks of narrative apparatus to which it will never consider actually paying off in its own running time . Freed of have to be its own story is , in some ways , exciting — especially as Chris Chibnall ’s earned run average of Doctor Who has beendefined in partby its own struggle to balance an identity element between the serial as a vehicle for societal comment and a vehicle for our heroes being go after down corridor by dodgy monster . But all the premiere really manages to do is breathlessly cry out some names and ideas and then for the most part run off from them , free of knowing it does n’t actually have to say anything of subject matter upon those names because it ’s simply “ Chapter One ” of Flux , rather than really being “ The Halloween Apocalypse . ”

The Doctor and a Dog alien, which is fitting because basically everyone and their dog (alien) was in this episode.

The Doctor and a Dog alien, which is fitting because basically everyone and their dog (alien) was in this episode.Image: BBC

It does indeed come about to be Halloween — both within the school text and on premier night itself — during the minutes , and there is indeed an apocalypse that drives the big thorn of the episode . But beyond that , there ’s little more developed here . Halloween itself largely exists to introduce us to our new companion Dan — played by John Bishop , exuding so much “ I ’m From Liverpool ” energy even before the script and set figure litter with the paraphernalia of Anfield ’s finest shout out it for him . He ’s a kind - hearted , down - on - his - luck soul who spends his day acting as an extemporary museum tour usher in between stints working at a food cant . He ’s uplifted into the weird human beings of Doctor Who when dog - like kidnapper Karvanista ( Craige Els , under some endearingly fluffy physical composition ) push forward into his home and outflank him up in an energy cube .

His base nature even in the face of the diaphanous mania unfolding around him at least impart “ Halloween Apocalypse ” a heart to incline on , even if it rarely has time to do so . The Doctor and Yaz ca n’t really allow it either , propelled as they are through the seven million mysteries being thrown at them and the audience . It ’s unclouded there ’s been some time since Ryan and Graham ’s exitin “ Revolution of the Daleks,”and not only has it create a much stiff partnership between the duo as monster - fighting poor boy , it ’s left some battle that the Doctor is unwilling to peach about , much to Yaz ’s thwarting . But on top of some comprehend hoariness between them , we ’re precede at speedy stride to myriad mysteries for them and us alike to respond to with adequate parts frustration and disarray .

There ’s the Swarm ( Sam Spruell ) , an ancient iniquity freed from an eternal prison to Infinity War - style detritus the great unwashed and cackle psychic taunts to the Doctor about how he cognize her and she does n’t screw him . There ’s the Swarm ’s sister , who was on the face of it hidden as some variety of sleeper agent in Iceland before determine to every which way — or perhaps not so randomly — go taunt Dan ’s would - be date Di ( Nadia Albina ) in a haunted house . Speaking of people who know the Doctor , but they do n’t roll in the hay them , there ’s Claire ( Annabel Scholey ) , who met the Doctor and Yaz in a past that has yet to unfold for us or our heroes — only for her to be immediately zap by some out - of - nowhere Weeping Angels , who are back and doing basically the exact scene the Weeping Angels have been doing ever since “ Blink ” ( I wonder , did Sally Sparrow or the Tenth Doctor turn “ Do n’t Blink ! ” into a branded catchphrase for utilisation across space and time ? ) .

Image: BBC

There ’s also the aforementioned Karvanista , who it turns out is both an factor of the Division — the organisation we also saw fail to imprison the Swarm , and briefly glimpsed last time of year — and a member of the Lupari race , which is “ species - bonded ” to Earth to protect world from calamitous desolation . There ’s Game of Thrones ’ Jacob Anderson as Vinder , hanging out on a post called Outpost Rose ( oh come on , we ca n’t read too much into that , surely ) reporting in eternity about the province of his corner of the universe to some unobserved masters . There ’s some Sontarans for good bill too , back on their usual warlike nonsense , very aroused that the end of the universe might mean there ’s a honorable fight along the agency .

Oh ! And then there ’s the Flux itself , the aforementioned Revelation of Saint John the Divine that ’s eating its means across the existence which , in a standardised style to the Swarm , Infinity Wars thing to dusty bits , just on a much larger , interstellar scale . And this smash itself into at least three of those plotlines when Vinder is wedge to abandon his frontier settlement to it , and Karvanista unveil to the Doctor , Yaz , and now the tagging - along Dan that the Lupari have deployed their shield fleet to evacuate and protect all of humanity from the Flux as it sweeps across our solar system , threatening to even dust - up the TARDIS after it fend off a blow of vortex push from its heart .

It ’s … so much . All this is just toss at the audience , shown and not really told , beyond submit its universe as A Thing That Is Happening before we ’re rushed along to be introduced to the next bit of patch setup . Rarely has Doctor Who been so tongue-tied , even at thetwisty - est highschool of Steven Moffat ’s runon the show , seldom has it been so confounding . Yes , it ’s natural action - pack , and there ’s plenty of dazzle visuals ( the Flux , in particular , feels wondrous in a fashion Doctor Who rarely can show off some cataclysmal , wandflower - scaled ravaging ) and explosions along the way . But it ’s all just interference , and when you ignore through it , so far there ’s very footling substance beyond that racket to jaw on . We ca n’t really do much more than look to see which of these myriad ideas will stick the landing over the next five week .

Image: BBC

Image: BBC

Is there more to Dan than his abundance of kindness ? What is the Swarm siblings ’ deal , and what ’s pass on with the Division ? Who is Claire ? What are the Sontarans up to , and the Weeping Angels , and the Cybermen , and whoever else might show up along the way ? What ’s going on between the Doctor and Yaz ? All Doctor Who has to offer right on now is questions , and with little else among the noise , “ The Halloween Apocalypse ” will live or die in the wider linguistic context of the time of year on just how those questions are ultimately answered . In the here and now , we ’re just left with walking the long way home .

Assorted Musings:

There ’s so much going on in this episode that I forgot to say there was also an away in 1800s Liverpool about a orphic mining society preparing for Ominous Things to Come by digging a lot of shafts . That ’s … that ’s it . That ’s all we get told before we ’re dragged screaming on to the next act of frame-up .

Even the TARDIS has its own mystery set up this episode ! What ’s do the ship to be so hesistant in taking the Doctor and Yaz anywhere , and also vomiting doors all over the shoes ? Is it just the Flux itself seed a sense of inappropriateness into the universe , or something more ?

Karvanista and the two agents dusted by the Swarm both have connections to the Division , an agency introduced last seasonas essentially a Time Lord affiliate black - ops organisation , designed to intervene where Time Lords officially could not . The Doctor , in their “ Timeless Child ” physical structure , was briefly part of the organization before their memory was wipe , and elements of it even want to track down down the Fugitive Doctor . So what are they doing here ? Are there still Gallifreyans among them after the devastation of the world at the Master ’s hands ? I guess it ’s just one of 300 other thing we need to find out in the next five installment .

Image: BBC

Image: BBC

Much is already being made of Claire ’s deal and how she knows the Doctor , knows the Weeping Angels well enough to at least momentarily stop them from adjudicate to nobble her , and her general “ I know Time Travel Weirdness ” push , and how she might be everything from the Next Doctor , to the Valeyard , to basically every other Dr. Who theory imaginable . perchance the hot hypothesis of the time of year is rifle to be “ everyone ’s in secret a Time Lord because you should really trust that at all time , especially when you ’ve been order they ’re all very numb . ” It would n’t be the first meter they ’ve come back from the timey - wimey grave !

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Image: BBC