Doctor Who S10

[MissKittyFantastico]

I pretty much liked that one - particularly the Ninth, I got a little nostalgic for the old days when they'd have had a lot more scenes to fill up the four or six episodes the story ran, but in all honestly the Pict side of things didn't really grab me that much, so perhaps better as things are (it was a bit out of place with the rest of her role, but the Gatekeeper's speech on the Romans was well delivered). The critter being this big bulky beast with bioluminescence in the age of swords and tribes did make me think Outlander a bit (not the sexy Highlands one, the one with the Vikings and the space marine).

I cannot overstate how much I'm looking forward to next week though - the return of my beloved stocking-faced original Cyberman and Missy taking the lead.

[Robovski]

I am looking forward to the Mondas cybermen. Crazy Master meetup not so much.

[J!!]

well, that was an awesome episode.


of course, it would've been far more awesome if last week's preview hadn't given away BOTH REVEALS! whoever thought that was a good idea needs to get shot. out of a canon. from a tall building. into orbit. of mercury.

[Robovski]

Spoliertown! Look away from the spoliers before they burn into your retinas!






Soooo, the Master cyberized the original Mondas cybermen apparently. Shame the Master doesn't have much history with them or that night resonate more - s/he worked with Daleks/Autons/Ogrons/whatever more than the Cybermen if my memory isn't failing me.

[GandALF]

Moffat better not hit that damn reset button, he could redeem himself a bit by not ending like a coward.

[MadAmosMalone]

I was very lucky in that I didn't see the previews so the Master's disguise had me fooled until he met Missy. I like the Mondas Cybermen are getting an origin story a'la Genesis of the Daleks and are retaining the "body horror" elements of the earlier Cyberman stories. Side note, it was a nice touch showing how black holes affect time and how they couldn't use the TARDIS so near one. They always need a crutch to not be able to use the TARDIS to just escape or fix whatever predicament they're in but at least here it felt like a legitimate excuse.

Moffat better not hit that damn reset button, he could redeem himself a bit by not ending like a coward.

I'm torn between my love for the character of Bill and my aversion to the reset button on this one.

[MissKittyFantastico]

For once my inability to key in to facial features (seriously - I recognise whole faces no problem, but cannot for the life of me describe the actual individual features of people I've known for years) worked in my favour, even knowing he was in the episode I totally didn't realise that was the Master. In fact the makeup got me to invent a backstory for him, that he was slightly deformed due to the limited gene pool the Mondasians started out with, so even after he started up with the menacing I was set in that mode of thought, and it was only when he asked if she still liked disguises that I was 'Ohhh, it's you!'

I'm not sure how I feel about their publicising the return of the cloth-faced Cybermen - maybe if I hadn't watched the next-week on the previous episode and seen the masked patients, in a way that made it really obvious they were Cybermen beta testing... I dunno. It would've been a nice dawning realisation. Still, you have to tease something, and knowing they were coming has kept me hyped this whole season. Surprise or not I loved the slow build of their 'genesis', the melancholy of their world, and the emphasis on medical horror over the CGI-buzzsaw-brain-transplanting they used for the Cybus models when they made their debut. I've always had this macabre fascination with Kit Pedler's inspiration for the Cybermen, and loved the original model's nods to it, the human hands, the organic face (?) under the cloth masks - this was like they made the episode I'd always imagined was there.

Really couldn't done without the pre-title scene - I forgot it pretty much right away once the actual episode started, and it feels like it was only there to tease part two, as if someone felt the episode itself wouldn't make me want to see what happened next. That more than heralding the Cybermen irked me as a spoiler-for-ratings.

I do now need there to be a Missy: Crimes Against Sapience in Time and Space series. No Doctor, just her, her TARDIS (so if they're alive, was the Master's just shackled to his will, or did he corrupt it? That'd be awesome), and a revolving door of companions she murders at the drop of a hat. In all seriousness, regardless of whether she wants to be 'good' or just evil on her own terms, I do want her to kick her past self's butt - if it was the late Roger Delgado maybe, but Missy versus Saxon!Master just isn't a contest in my books.

[Fixer]

I'm going to echo what you guys have said.
Knowing the Mondas Cybermen were appearing ahead of time ruined the surprise. It would have been great to figure out everything myself.

Also, I think they should have shown the alpha/beta cybermen actually being strong, able to survive hard conditions, the people on the bottom level being extremely sickly or even deformed from the deteriorating state of the vessel.

As it was, Blue-man group holding a hand-cannon was seemingly terrified of a handful of shambling hospital patients that would have had classic zombies roll their eyes at how slow and easily avoidable they were.

[Paul Walker]

Anyone expect Moffat to use his trademark phrase one last time? But this time, instead of filling people with hope, filling them with fear and terror instead.

"On Mondas, everybody lives"

I did love the episode. The bits in the hospital were really creepy, and I look forward to John Simm's master receiving a competent treatment this time, as I hated the crazy person we got in season's 3&4. He was so forgettable compared to Delgado. I suspect Missy might end up being an out-of-order Master. She's not the one Simm regenerates into, but one from his far and distant future, several regenerations down the line, and that's why she's forgotten being on the ship.

[Durandal_1707]

For once my inability to key in to facial features (seriously - I recognise whole faces no problem, but cannot for the life of me describe the actual individual features of people I've known for years) worked in my favour, even knowing he was in the episode I totally didn't realise that was the Master. In fact the makeup got me to invent a backstory for him, that he was slightly deformed due to the limited gene pool the Mondasians started out with, so even after he started up with the menacing I was set in that mode of thought, and it was only when he asked if she still liked disguises that I was 'Ohhh, it's you!'

I just kept thinking about how much he was reminding me of Zathras.