Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror (2013)
Written by Mark Gatiss, this story follows Vastra, Strax and Jenny as they investigate strange goings on in Sweetville - a village made to withstand the coming 'apocalypse'; only the best are for Sweetville.
This is as close as we'll get to a spin-off featuring the Paternoster Gang for quite a while, so lets focus on them. The first third of the episode is focussed on their investigations, but the other two third less so, when the Doctor is found. Strax was very entertaining in this episode and clearly Dan Starkey is having a whale of a time playing this character. The way he behaves is like a Sontaran, but clearly not an ordinary Sontaran, as that would have insulted many fans. Gatiss does not touch on Strax's 'death' which is a nice touch. I still think its odd that "Demon's Run: Two Days Later" has not been released on the Doctor Who website or on the new Series 7 Part 2 DVD (as far as I know), and when you watch it, it isn't that great. Oh well. He has some great lines though: "Horse, you have failed in your mission!" and "Remember, we are going to the north!"
Jenny also has time to shine in this episode. Prior to this story, I had thought nothing much of her character but in this she was great! A true Dr Watson-esque character, only a bit more awesome and beat the living smeg out of some...supermodels?
Vastra is the only weak link. I liked her in A Good Man Goes To War, found her OK in The Snowmen but in this she felt like the weakest link. While Jenny and Strax stole every scene they were in, Vastra just doesn't. I'm not too sure why. Sure, she does some investigating but doesn't add much character to the story.
The 'supermodels' were weird and I didn't quite understand their purpose in Mrs Gillyflower's plans. Were they just there as security? If so, were they under her control or under free will? A bit of a plot hole there, along with the mysterious cubicles.
Mrs Gillyflower herself was an interesting villain. There wasn't much additional character points, literally what they say in the episode - she's evil and nuts. Why?
OK, I'm being WAY too nit-picky to this story so I'd better get onto some more stuff quickly.
Matt Smith worked well with everyone in this episode, although his costume change was a little out of the blue (and missing a "bowler hats are cool!") but he worked brilliantly with Diana Rigg, who was really, really good. There was a bit too much OTT sonic-ing at points, but the chair scene easily made up for it. Mr Sweet was a weird creation that I didn't understand but he looked alright I guess, and we didn't have any aliens in this episode! I guess we had The Doctor and Strax, but they're regulars so it doesn't count. It was nice that the threat wasn't alien for once, and just Primeval. It was a nice little idea, especially as Vastra knew what it was.
Some jokes in the episode were taken a little too far, like the fainting man, and Strax's hat was... bizarre to say the least. Clara felt a little underused, and at some points I felt she was just a background character. As I said the chair stuff was good and the ending bit was...OK. I'll talk about that next time.
Overall, despite nit-picks, I have to give The Crimson Horror a:
This is as close as we'll get to a spin-off featuring the Paternoster Gang for quite a while, so lets focus on them. The first third of the episode is focussed on their investigations, but the other two third less so, when the Doctor is found. Strax was very entertaining in this episode and clearly Dan Starkey is having a whale of a time playing this character. The way he behaves is like a Sontaran, but clearly not an ordinary Sontaran, as that would have insulted many fans. Gatiss does not touch on Strax's 'death' which is a nice touch. I still think its odd that "Demon's Run: Two Days Later" has not been released on the Doctor Who website or on the new Series 7 Part 2 DVD (as far as I know), and when you watch it, it isn't that great. Oh well. He has some great lines though: "Horse, you have failed in your mission!" and "Remember, we are going to the north!"
Jenny also has time to shine in this episode. Prior to this story, I had thought nothing much of her character but in this she was great! A true Dr Watson-esque character, only a bit more awesome and beat the living smeg out of some...supermodels?
Vastra is the only weak link. I liked her in A Good Man Goes To War, found her OK in The Snowmen but in this she felt like the weakest link. While Jenny and Strax stole every scene they were in, Vastra just doesn't. I'm not too sure why. Sure, she does some investigating but doesn't add much character to the story.
The 'supermodels' were weird and I didn't quite understand their purpose in Mrs Gillyflower's plans. Were they just there as security? If so, were they under her control or under free will? A bit of a plot hole there, along with the mysterious cubicles.
Mrs Gillyflower herself was an interesting villain. There wasn't much additional character points, literally what they say in the episode - she's evil and nuts. Why?
OK, I'm being WAY too nit-picky to this story so I'd better get onto some more stuff quickly.
Matt Smith worked well with everyone in this episode, although his costume change was a little out of the blue (and missing a "bowler hats are cool!") but he worked brilliantly with Diana Rigg, who was really, really good. There was a bit too much OTT sonic-ing at points, but the chair scene easily made up for it. Mr Sweet was a weird creation that I didn't understand but he looked alright I guess, and we didn't have any aliens in this episode! I guess we had The Doctor and Strax, but they're regulars so it doesn't count. It was nice that the threat wasn't alien for once, and just Primeval. It was a nice little idea, especially as Vastra knew what it was.
Some jokes in the episode were taken a little too far, like the fainting man, and Strax's hat was... bizarre to say the least. Clara felt a little underused, and at some points I felt she was just a background character. As I said the chair stuff was good and the ending bit was...OK. I'll talk about that next time.
Overall, despite nit-picks, I have to give The Crimson Horror a:
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