Hey Team it’s Charlie and this week’s episode of Doctor Who did an amazing job of
tying back into the idea of changing mistakes of the past.
Peter Capaldi himself described it as a combination of Ocean’s Eleven and 2001 Space Odyssey.
I would also add the Wizard of OZ to that.
So let’s do top 5 moments, easter eggs and then the review.
And quick reminder, the weekly giveaway is open again.
All you have to do to enter is be a subscriber and leave a comment.
Careful for spoilers from the episode.
I’ll wait just a sec...okay.
Here are my top 5 moments.
Number 5 - The Bank of Karabraxos
If this was supposed to be a little bit Ocean’s Eleven, I’m guessing Karabraxos is the Bellagio
Hotel.
This was probably one of the most well developed new locations in series 8.
Because of the macguffin of the Heist they were able to describe every detail of the
planet and the bank down to the last spec of dust.
I wish we could get a big episode like that inside the TARDIS.
Even Journey to the Center of The TARDIS in series 7 didn’t explain the interior workings
of the TARDIS as well as Time Heist explained the Bank of Karabraxos.
The culture of the bank was just as interesting.
Did you catch when they killed the Red Shirt at the beginning?
Miss Delphox said they were going to terminate his account, meaning the bank would seize
his assets and they’d throw his family in jail.
That seems a bit harsh.
Maybe Moffat hates white collar criminals.
It also explains how Miss Karabraxos could become the wealthiest person in the Universe.
If she just kept terminating accounts and taking people’s fortunes.
I liked the idea of the architect even though the reveal was kind of obvious.
The other direction I thought they could have gone would have been for the Doctor himself
to be the architect.
And had his mind wiped.
That would have messed the whole plot up.
And they already did the multiple mind wipes joke with Strax during the 2012 Christmas
Special.
The solar storm that destroyed the planet was the same type of storm that destroyed
all the gangers during Rebel Flesh and Almost People.
Not the same storm, but the same type of storm.
Number 4 - The New Monster The Teller
Technically not a monster as we learned.
But as far as the episode explained it’s psychic and prevents people for stealing or
cheating the bank.
I lot of you told me on twitter it reminded you of the Minotaur from God Complex.
In both cases the story was about turning your own thoughts against you.
There was a nice moment when it was scanning the Doctor’s Brain that I wondered if we’d
get some big clue about Missy.
I just ended up being the Madam Karabraxos reveal but it did make us think about the
TARDIS phone again.
I’ll talk more about the phone during my review.
Because the Doctor did way to many mimed phone calls at people for it to be a throwaway joke.
I would have liked to learn a little more about the Teller creatures but now that they’re
canon, they can always come back.
I feel like Moffat wouldn’t create something with those kind of powers if he didn’t intend
for the Doctor to ask a favor of them in exchange for saving their lives.
Back in Deep Breath he said he remembered his face but he didn’t remember why he picked
it.
It’s possible the teller’s could deep scan his brain to find out or give him a clue.
Number 3 - The Doctor’s Toys offer some clues about Missy
I don’t know if the Dimensional Shift Bomb was timelord technology but he had it on him
and I don’t think anyone else gave it to him.
And then there was the quick return buttons he handed out.
As for the Bomb, He said instead of exploding it sends particles to another plane of existence.
He didn’t say which plane or if it was like E-Space or a pocket universe.
The quick return capsules were tied to the TARDIS, so I’m guessing those were timelord
technology.
If Missy had her own TARDIS, that could be how she’s snagging people.
It’s still a little soon to tell.
I always love new gadgets.
Like David Tennant’s machine that goes Ding in the 50th.
It makes it feel like the Doctor’s suits also operate like the TARDIS and are bigger
on the inside.
Like they have infinite storage space in their pockets.
Number 2 - The Private Vault
I’m going to have to re-watch this a couple more times to see but I feel like there are
a lot of visual easter eggs for other bits of Doctor Who history.
The egyptian symbols made me think of Pyramids of Mars and the upcoming Mummy on the Orient
Express episode.
A lot of times set designers will insert their own easter eggs when putting props in the
backgrounds of shots.
Things that aren’t really in camera focus, but if you were on the set you’d be able
to see really clearly.
Doctor Who recycles a lot of their props too, so sometimes when you see familiar things
it’s both them just being practical and saving money and the set designer picking
things because they have some special significance.
Mark Gatiss explained that sometimes it just ends up being a coincidence.
He was talking about his own writing, but I like to think that people who are not Moffat
on the crew try to work in things they think the fandom will pick up on.
So let me know if you saw anything in the vault at the end that reminded you of stuff
from previous episodes.
and my Number 1 thing - Keeley Hawes new Villain Madam Karabraxos and Miss Delphox
She is now the second biggest person this season to play multiple roles in the same
episode.
Clara is the impossible girl, but I’m not counting her.
Samuel Anderson played two different versions of his character and now Keeley Hawes.
I wonder if the trend will continue.
I loved her character but I feel like she got short changed a little.
Both versions of her character, Miss Karabraxos and the clone Miss Delphox were really interesting.
And you could tell the clone had a life of her own.
She was kind of like one of the gangers.
Add to that she was going to be thrown in the incinerator just like the gangers getting
dumped in acid.
It’s important to remember that Madame Karabraxos didn’t die at the end.
She’s still out there somewhere so Keeley Hawes could always come back to reprise the
character.
I think one of my favorite things about the big reveal was the way her story mirrored
the doctor’s.
And with her hating herself, all the deep regrets about changing the past.
It’s what’s happening with The Doctor right now.
It was a great way to tie the plot of the episode to one of the big themes of series
8.
So my big questions for you guys is, what was your favorite moment and do you think
we’ll see the Teller creatures or Keeley Hawes again?
I already mentioned a lot of the references I spotted like the gangers, the vault and
the tardis phone.
But here are all the criminals that popped up on the screen.
There was the Terileptil, which was mentioned during the Christmas Special.
The Slitheen also mentioned in the christmas special.
A Sensorite from the Sensorites.
That was the seventh story from doctor who season 1.
Absalom Daak from the comics.
Then there were a couple from the sarah jane adventures including Androvax, The Trickster
and Captain John Hart from Torchwood
I feel like they were the biggest reference, but if you saw any other big ones in the episode
just write them in the comments.
Overall I gave this episode a B, it was a lot of fun but I felt like the plot dissolved
after they rescued the doctor and went down to the vault.
Keeley Hawes was very interesting, she’s a great actress.
But I feel like she didn’t get enough time to develop her characters.
This whole thing with one actor playing multiple versions of themselves seems very suspicious.
The supporting guest cast were a lot of fun.
I always wonder what and who Moffat plans on bringing back at the end of each series.
Psi’s moment with Clara where he explains deleting his family from his brain felt like
setup for Clara in a later episode.
I feel like the only problem I had with the story was that the explanation was a little
too simple in the end.
There was all this build up for the first half of the episode and wizard of oz style,
the curtain is thrown back and it’s a frail dying person behind it all.
I think we can blame that on the episode this year being less serialized.
As a result they have to completely set everything up and resolve it in 50 minutes, so if it
feels like it was too easy for them to rob the bank.
That’s why, they had to do Ocean’s Eleven, a two plus hour movie, in under 50 minutes.
Actually they did the Ocean’s Eleven part in under 40 minutes or so, the last ten was
wizard of oz.
It was still a lot of fun but I really do like serialized stories more.
It just allows them to make more complex storylines.
I understand why they’re not doing that.
They just want to make it easier for new viewers to follow.
Next week looks like a lot fun.
The Doctor will be play acting headmaster at Coal Hill.
My next video is going to be my bonus story for the christmas special this year.
Be sure to subscribe to get it.
They just announced a bunch of guest actors.
so I’ll try to post that in 5 or 6 hours.
Don’t forget about the giveaway, I’ll announce the winner in my Q&A on Sunday
Right now click here for the bonus video.
I’ll add the annotation as soon as I post it.
and click here for the Q&A.
Thanks for watching, everybody high five and we’ll meet up again in a couple hours to
talk about the christmas special!