Doctor Who Review: The Pilot
Hello again
everyone.
On
Saturday, Doctor Who returned at last! After more than a year of waiting, our
favourite time-travelling alien is back with a new sonic, a new companion, and
some cracking new adventures on the way over the next three months!
With
the return of the show comes the return of my episode reviews, where I’ll be
sharing my thoughts on each episode, and looking at my expectations for
upcoming episodes as well.
This
is my review of episode 1 “The Pilot”. WARNING! This post contains spoilers so
if you have not seen it yet, DO NOT read on.
BILL
Of
course, this episode centred around new companion Bill as she meets the Doctor
for the first time. We already knew from hearsay that Bill was going to be a
different kind of companion to those we have seen in the past, but The Pilot
really gave her a chance to show us exactly who she was and how unique a
companion she is going to be.
She asks different types of
questions to what we have
come to expect from the Doctor’s companions. I know that what Moffat is trying
to do is to make Bill more “relatable” to the audience, that is to say she is
asking the things that any ordinary person would upon encountering this
character and entering his world. My favourite examples include
·
“It’s
made of wood, and it’s got windows” when talking about the security of the
TARDIS doors
·
“It’s
like a… kitchen” upon seeing the interior of the TARDIS
·
“If
you’re from another planet, why would you name your box in English?
She doesn’t immediately
accept the Doctor’s world
like other companions have. With them, they just seemed to believe it very
quickly whereas with Bill, it took most of the episode for her to fully embrace
this time-travelling alien and his magical machine.
This was very much HER
episode. From the
beginning, we are seeing things from her perspective, we are very much in her
world of a 21st century character (not pleased they’ve gone with
another modern companion but I can live with it) which gives her a relatable
quality and allows us as an audience to get to know her before she goes onto
the TARDIS.
HEATHER
On
this note, I am glad that they didn’t allow the villain to overshadow her
debut, which I think means that Moffat has at last learnt how to write a decent
multi-layered episode without cramming and overcomplicating things.
Although
we didn’t really find out much about the lifeform which took hold of Heather
during “The Pilot”, she still made for a terrifying character. Moffat has gone
back to what he can do so well, which is to make everyday mundane things into
things which can kill you. Previous examples include gasmask zombies (“Are you
my mummy?), shadows (“Hey, who turned out the lights?”) and, of course who
could forget the fact that statues are really Weeping Angels? In this instance,
he has taken the idea of reflections, particularly in puddles and turned it
against us. A brilliantly simple and et somehow absolutely terrifying concept.
I’ll certainly be checking my reflection is the right way around every time I look
in the mirror now!
THE
VAULT
We
know that the Doctor is on Earth lecturing at a university, and it is revealed
during the episode that he and Nardole are guarding a vault in a basement, and
that they must protect it from all harm. This has thrown up lots of questions
about what might be coming up throughout this series.
·
What
is in the vault?
·
Why is
the Doctor guarding it?
·
Why must
it be protected from all harm?
·
How long
exactly has he been guarding it?
o
Bill
mentions that one of the other lecturers claims he has been at the university
for up to 70 years, so is this how long?
·
Is this
going to be the story arc for Series 10 which leads to…
o
…Nardole’s
death?
o
…Bill’s
death?
o
…the
return of the Master(s)?
o
…the
Doctor’s regeneration?
EASTER
EGGS
Just
a few little things to look out for if you watch episode 1 back again.
·
The classic
line “It’s bigger on the inside!”
·
The
jar of Sonic Screwdrivers
·
The photo
of River Song
·
The
photo of the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan
o
The fact
that he has her picture alongside that of River makes me ask the question – has
she died as well?
Please
let me know if you’ve spotted any others I have missed (leave me a comment or
get in touch on my social media links in the table below).
You
can also use those channels to chat about the episode and give me your thoughts
on Bill/Nardole/the vault/anything else you want to talk about.
Hope
you enjoyed this review and of course are excited for the rest of the series.
Until
my next post, keep positive, keep smiling, and above all, keep believing!
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