Doctor Who

The Woman Who Fell To Earth Review

The Doctor smashes through the ceiling of a train carriage.

That's how Jodie Whittaker's first scene rolls as The Doctor. The new Doctor. Doctor number 13 (or 15, if you want to be pedantic). It isn't how the episode starts, however. In fact, it takes about 15 minutes before Jodie appears on screen at all, but thankfully her absence isn't felt.

The story does a marvellous job of opening up with Ryan as he struggles to ride a bike as a result of his dyspraxia. Ryan also struggles to come to terms with his inability to do sometimes simple things to others, opting instead to throw his bike off the side of the large hill he's practising on. Now, some may call this a childish act of irritating, but I identified with Ryan on a lot of accounts, not least of all the frustration with himself. In a peak of rage, I too probably would've done the same. Actually, as an aside, the hilltop was rather reminiscent of a hill close to where I grew up, and would also be a place I'd practise riding my own bike. Still, Ryan does attempt to retrieve it, knowing full well he'll try again at a later time. After all, the story goes to great lengths to show that despite his inability to do things and the frustrations he harbours, Ryan is a rather determined young man. Best of all, the story does it concisely.

Similarly, Yasmin is called in as a police officer who's looking for something more. Think Judy Hopps from Zootopia / Zootropolis and you're there. Yasmin, or Yas, definitely had less focus compared to Ryan, not least of all not showing anything else in her life beyond her occupation, but this is episode 1 and there is frankly plenty of time to build on both her and Garham (Ryan's step-granddad) in the coming series. Ryan was the companion focused on as an entry-point, and it worked rather well. As such, by the time everyone's investigating a train that's been attacked, it doesn't feel like it's been as long as it has before The Doctor shows up.

Now that we're there, let's talk about The Doctor. Jodie's first scene is... not so great, I felt. Strangely, I felt she over-acted all her lines. There was a bit too much side-glancing and trying to be a bit quirky for my liking. I'm not sure where it was filmed chronologically, but in terms of the episode, it did have me a bit worried. That being said, the further through the episode we get, the better and better Jodie becomes until she finally feels very natural in the roll about half-way through. Good stuff. Relieving stuff. As such, the scene kind of works in hindsight, as if The Doctor is trying to over-accentuate her physicality to try and spur her own memory into action (post-regeneration, eh). Frankly, I'd much rather this slight confusion than the Zero Rooms and strangling companions of old.

I've talked a bit about the opening plot points, but I won't talk about anything more. I think it's worth you seeing the episode for itself to experience the plot first-hand from here on out. What I will discuss, though, is how different it all feels.

The episode feels amazingly dark. Yet, it doesn't necessarily feel as dark as some of the Steven Moffat era of certain stories (the Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi era episodes). It feels more dark in a Torchwood kind of way - Doctor Who's spin-off show of yesteryear. The tone is very different from what you would expect from Doctor Who since its return in 2005, but it's... refreshingly different. I don't think it's going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I do like this change in the face of the Capaldi era of the show. The comedy is still there, though, and in just the right places, but it's much more subtle than before.

That reminds me, I need to fling some salad at an alien the next time I encounter one.

Not everything's great, however. The dialogue, in particular, was pretty ropey. It's one of those aspects I really noticed, sometimes making them felt a bit thrown in there. There's one particular line that sums that feeling up pretty well, delivered by Graham towards the end of the episode. On the plus, a lot of it felt very believable, as did everything about the episode really, but on the downside the lines were mostly pretty naff. The pacing was also unusual for Doctor Who, in that it wasn't as sharp and snappy as we'd come to expect. Then again, I think it's a good thing that there was a lot of to-and-froing, since it was probably only jarring because recent years have been so snappy and all-in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time. The alien wasn't so memorable, though, and I think toed the line between menacing and mocked (which does subvert threats somewhat when they're not taken seriously... see how the Doctor acts in The Sontaran Stratagem with David Tennant, for instance). Although, the alien's name was Tim Shaw. That's both hilarious and worrying for all the Tim Shaws out there.

Also, the new Sonic Screwdriver looks a bit like a naughty toy. There, I said it.

Still, the negatives don't outweigh the positives. Far from it. The new directors have done absolutely wonders on the episode. The last time it looked this good was the 1996 TV movie, which looked super slick no matter what you may have thought of its plot. As a result, we get a visually breathtaking episode that looks like a glossy film and sounds certainly more percussive from the new team involved. As great as Murray Gold's music was since Doctor Who's return, it did have a tendency to be in-your-face. Now, we have a pacey drum beat and threatening strings. It's good in a different way, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to its soundtrack. Well, maybe the new theme tune, as heard in the ending credits, which sounds spooky and bloody fantastic.

One of the final aspects I particularly enjoyed was that it was unpredictable. I'm not talking Extremis unpredictable from season 10, but unpredictable in that certain events happened that I wouldn't have expected from the previous couple of eras. It's good that they happen, although I don't think everyone will agree, but said events certainly make certain characters feel important in a way that was missing in the Moffat era of the show (but present in the Russell T. Davies era before him).

So, there we have it. Sheffield managed to get some good representation and all's refreshingly different. The only thing left to do is find out how the rest of the season progresses. I'll certainly be watching, but will you?