Deep Breath

I feel that Deep Breath is a very good and funny story. I really like its humour and found the majority of its jokes funny. The plot itself is interesting and engaging (although it did feel a bit directionless about a quarter of the way through, in my opinion) and I feel that the sets, costumes, prosthetics and CGI are good. I also like the music.

Deep Breath is an event episode. It’s the start of a new Doctor’s journey in the TARDIS. Peter Capaldi’s arrival in the role is unusual. He was announced a long time before actually appearing in the series and this was done with a special half hour programme on BBC1. This was unprecedented. The BBC was clearly chuffed as chips to have bagged such a prestigious actor as Capaldi for the role.

With such a long wait, the anticipation for Capaldi’s first episode grew and grew. Now, I have to admit to being a huge Matt Smith fan. I was always going to find the transition to a new Doctor difficult. I liked some of Capaldi’s previous work (Neverwhere, for example) but can’t say I’m a big fan. But, as my love for Doctor Who is unconditional, I sat down with a bunch of friends (premiere episodes tend to be a social event for us) to watch his debut.

I enjoyed it. But I cannot say I was overwhelmed. It felt a bit long. It felt a bit drab (colour-wise). I wasn’t taking to Capaldi. This was a problem over the next few episodes. I wasn’t warming to the 12th Doctor’s grumpy characterisation. There were episodes I enjoyed such as Into the Dalek, but it wasn’t until Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline that I started to accept this new Doctor.

I returned to Deep Breath with some trepidation, but also a knowledge that episodes (especially from the new series) which had underwhelmed me on first watch often rose in my estimation on repeated viewings. I’m glad to say that Deep Breath has joined that number.

There is so much to enjoy in this episode that I’m not even sure why I felt underwhelmed the first time through. It looks gorgeous. The scenes in the spaceship at the end of the episode with the variously costumed clockwork robots look stunning. I love the array of period costumes from military to prostitute to Li H’Sen Chang-alikes. The sound work is also brilliant. I hadn’t appreciated how utterly chilling the clockwork sound is in this episode. It is used to great effect throughout the episode. And the clockwork effect on the side of the Half-Face Man is amazing. I know it must be CGI but the effect is seamless and looks utterly like part of the actor’s own physiognomy.

Bringing back the Clockwork Droids is also great fun. In their first appearance in The Girl in the Fireplace they were really playing second fiddle to the love story between the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour. Wonderful as that story is, they were a rather perfunctory monster. Here, in Deep Breath, they seem more menacing for some reason. Maybe it’s because, this time, they have a ‘leader’ in the Half Face Man. Peter Ferdinando is excellent in the role and I don’t think I properly appreciated his contribution to the episode. Maybe, first time round, I was too focussed on the new Doctor. Now that I’m used to Capaldi’s performance from two series’ worth of episodes, I was able to look past that aspect of the episode. I also like how the audience probably reaches a conclusion about the droids before the Doctor does; the SS Marie Antoinette part simply being confirmation for the viewer of where we’ve seen them before – whereas for the Doctor it is really the start of him making the connnection. His post-regenerative muddle stopping him from immediately remembering.

And I think that is another aspect of the episode I hadn’t properly appreciated first time around. The ‘post-regenerationness’ of the episode. It is played in a different way to how it was for the 10th and 11th Doctors. The 10th was unconscious for a sizeable chunk of his episode, but when he finally turned up proper he was right into the thick of the action. The 11th too wasted little time in investigating the mysteries he was presented with. The version they’ve gone with for the 12th Doctor is far more similar to the traumas experience by the 5th and 6th Doctors. Stumbling around, not knowing who they are; being antagonistic and unlikeable; putting the companion in mortal danger and making the companion, and the viewer, disconcerted and uncomfortable. For some reason I ‘got’ it far more this time around. The part in the spaceship where Clara thinks she has been abandoned by the Doctor and confronts the Half Face Man alone is thrilling. We needed an unlikeable Doctor for this story to work as well as it does. Continuing that unlikeability for as long as they did; well that maybe harder for me to come to terms with. However, as this marathon will watch the episodes out of order, I’ll probably find myself – as with this episode – appreciating each one far more.

Capaldi will never be my favourite Doctor but I am definitely appreciating his characterisation far more now than I did initially. This is also a great story for Jenna Coleman as Clara. She is in a Peri-like role of having to accept and adjust to this very different Doctor from the young, youthful version she knew (and one she knew a lot better than Peri knew the 5th (if we ignore the Big Finish additions to their time together). As I say, her scenes facing up to the droids alone are thrilling, but I also love her interplay with the Paternoster Gang.

Ah yes, the Paternoster Gang. I know they divide fan opinion (what doesn’t) but I am very fond of them. This is the story, though, where I went right off Madame Vastra. Her treatment of Jenny is appalling; this is even pointed out by Jenny. Why does she still treat her as a servant behind closed doors? It doesn’t make any sense, aside from portraying her as arrogant in her attitudes towards ‘apes’. There is, of course, the controversial kiss between Vastra and Jenny (excused in the script as being a transfer of oxygen) but it does seem as if there isn’t very much left to be done with these two characters, Vastra especially. I do wonder if we will actually see them reappear in Series 10. Strax, on the other hand, provides everything I could want. A hilarious performance from Dan Starkey as always and its no wonder that, in the world of Big Finish, its Strax they have chosen to cross-over into their Jago and Litefoot range. Having Strax a bit more central to the story would have been nice, but as his role is, principally, comic relief, I suppose that is just how it will have to be.

Historically, this felt very Victorian. The date of 1894 is a little bit of guesswork based on the explicit dating of The Crimson Horror. As I’ve mentioned, the costuming is exquisite and the location work really adds to the time period’s atmosphere. The early scenes on the banks of the River Thames work extremely well. We are, still though, in the Victorian era that is more inspired by Sherlock Holmes than real history. In fact, this story is strongly influenced by the Penny Dreadfuls. It has a little of the atmosphere present in the audio series I have reviewed previously (with a third instalment soon to be listened to) from the Wireless Theatre Company – The Legend of Spring Heel’d Jack. It’s also reminiscent of the atmosphere conjured in The Talons of Weng-Chiang. It feels more akin to that story than it does to either The Snowmen or The Crimson Horror (although I commented on how The Crimson Horror is a very different style of Victorian story in my review of that). The links with Sherlock Holmes are reinforced by the presence of Inspector Gregson, a character from some of the Conan Doyle stories. He appeared briefly in one of the short prequels to The Snowmen, and it is fun to have him return as the ‘police’ character to Vastra’s Holmes. She even says ‘the games afoot’ and Jenny makes reference to the Paternoster Irregulars in a – not very subtle – reference to the Baker Street Irregulars from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Of course, the one very unhistorical aspect is the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex. Clearly just included for some good pre-publicity, it’s gigantic size is rather silly and hand-waved away with the most cursory of explanations. Impressive though the effects are, it doesn’t really fit into the rest of the story’s tone and does raise awkward questions about why a giant dinosaur in the Thames (for quite an extended period of time) isn’t a matter of more import in the wider history of Doctor Who’s Earth. Ah well, let’s not worry too much about it.

Oh and then there’s Missy. But that’s a discussion for a different time, I feel.

I really enjoyed this story second time around and I’m even tempted to sit down and rewatch it again. I sometimes don’t give the episodes my full attention when watching them as part of my marathon; squeezing them in whilst working for example. A few times I rewound sections to rewatch properly and I feel I actually need to give this episode my absolute undivided attention. It certainly deserves it. Could I be coming round to Capaldi? Maybe. It certainly felt like a better episode than I remembered.

Enjoyed it, thought it was definitely better than the majority of Series 7B and Time of the Doctor.

The first half wasn't on par with the second half, which was brilliant, from the restaurant scene, through to the breathing scene, the showdown between the Doctor and Smith's cameo but the slower pace at the start gave the whole world and story a chance to breathe, which isn't always the case in Who.

First impressions on Capaldi are that he's gonna be great, though it'll be better to start judging him next week when he's sane for the whole episode.

23/8/24

happy 10th anniversary deep breath!!! i always knew this was good but dear god it is GOOD. the ship of theseus idea is not only a great way of bringing back the clockwork droids but an INCREDIBLE idea for a regeneration story. the phone call and the ‘just see me’ scene are f**king beautiful. 12 obviously shines straight away, and this is the first time we properly see the reinvented version of clara, and the episode wastes no time in showing the direction theyre going with her, and her and the doctors dynamic. and the body horror stuff while very silly is so cool. doctor who good!!!!!!!!!!!!

The third Doctor Who TV movie so far, Deep Breath saw Peter Capaldi's debut as the Doctor in the show and like Day of the Doctor was released in cinemas as well as broadcast on TV. Unlike Day of the Doctor, it also served as the first episode of Series 8; a strong series for the show which saw a number of the new series' best episodes.

Deep Breath is the story of Clara struggling to come to terms with this new Doctor as he recovers from post-regeneration trauma. Meanwhile, a group of Clockwork Droids from the SS Madam De Pompadour's sister ship the SS Marie Antoinette are trying to find their way to the 'promised land' and using a restaurant as their base to harvest people so they can use them as spare parts to replace any they are using that are currently rotting. This is arguably one of the darkest episodes of Doctor Who as it sees a ship made out of human skin and the film's main clockwork enemy Half-Face Man impaled on a spire. It is nice to see the show explore such dark themes with the Clockwork Droids even if their return was surprising given their last appearance before Deep Breath was eight years ago in The Girl In The Fireplace. This reviewer hopes to see them return again as they are among the most intriguing of the new series' creations but whether they will or won't is anybody's guess.

The writing is up to Steven Moffat's brilliant standards, however it never reaches the highs of Day of the Doctor. It is also a little too slowly paced and doesn't quite have the same cinematic feel of the TV Movie and Day of the Doctor. Director Ben Wheatley does a great job however (as he does in the next episode Into The Dalek) and we can only hope he returns to direct another episode of the show at some point. Maybe Steven Moffat's final episode?

Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are brilliant as the Doctor and Clara; Jenna Coleman in particular giving a very believable and engaging performance as someone who no longer knows who her friend is (although it can be argued that her response to regeneration is out of character for Clara because she has seen every regeneration of the Doctor up to 11 and therefore should expect that he changes his face once in a while anyway). The Paternoster Gang are also on top form; I will admit that I wasn't sure on them in their first appearance in A Good Man Goes To War but they have grown on me, especially Dan Starkey, who is absolutely hilarious as Strax. It's a shame that they haven't returned since during Peter Capaldi's era as I think they work well as supporting characters.

Oh, and I can't write a review about any episode of series 8 without mentioning the music. Murray Gold's music here is on par with what he produced for the Specials: absolutely incredible. Every piece is stunning and whilst there's no track to beat Vale Decem, it is easily Murray Gold's best music produced for Steven Moffat's era.

Overall, Deep Breath is a brilliant introductory TV movie for Peter Capaldi's Doctor unfortunately let down by a slow pace and not enough of a cinematic feel for something that was shown in cinemas.

Deep Breath is a fairly solid start to the Twelfth Doctor. There's a lot of awkward writing choices along the way that make it somewhat unsatisfying, but overall it works as an introduction to the new Doctor and some of the plot concepts we could expect out of Series 8. The Paternoster Gang were starting to wear on me pretty heavily at this point, but everyone is doing a great job acting. It's mot the overblown use of Clara and the gang to begin with that feels unnecessary. A story more independent of Moffat's older characters would have done a lot to benefit Deep Breath, but that is sadly true of a lot of the Twelfth Doctor.

The dinosaur CGI wasn't great and the T-Rex was kind of pointless anyways. It barely even paid off with the appearance of the clockwork robots. They, and their scenes in the restaurant and underground lair, were pretty great. Lots of good moments there. Lots of potential overall, to this episode, unfortunately it didn't all come together as much as I wish it would have.

So Peter Capaldi has stepped out of the TARDIS and given his first performance as the Doctor. I quite enjoyed it. We've not yet seen how he'll really handle the role. We've merely had a few pointers as to how his Doctor will develop. It's good to be intrigued and left wanting more.

I was quite impressed with how understated the performance was. We had a lot of comedic scenes that he played completely straight, allowing the comedy to happen around him rather than making it happen. That's not to say that he didn't have some very funny lines like "Don't look in that mirror; it's furious," but that he handled them with style and didn't overplay them. I was less impressed with the whole eyebrow stuff which felt a bit forced and one was inclined to think that Capaldi wasn't overly fond of the lines but that a refusal to play them might come off as vain. It was a nice touch to note that the tramp who worked against most of the Doctor's silliest lines was played by Brian Miller, husband to the late Lis Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). He was beautifully played.

In fact the cast as a whole performed well and it was good to have a little more time for scenes to breathe and dialogue to develop. There were some lovely visuals but this episode was mainly about the actors and that was a very good thing. The Paternoster gang of Jenny Vastra and Strax provided continuity with the Matt Smith era nicely, but it also feels like it's time for them to fly on their own for a while. They've developed more than enough to warrant their own series of Victorian murder mysteries and I'm left with the impression that they and Doctor Who should part company from here on. The likelihood of the beeb picking up such a series is low, which is a shame because I think it would make an altogether more satisfying spin off than Torchwood ever was.

That said, some of it was beginning to feel a little old within Doctor Who. There are only so many times that Strax can call Clara "boy" and it still be vaguely amusing. Also Jenny and Vastra's relationship seemed a little forced this time round. Did we really need the voice over explaining their kiss to share oxygen? How does that work anyway? I've not seen CPR work on someone who's conscious and standing before. I'm over thinking this of course, but it just felt a lot like we were having the inter species lesbian kiss highlighted to the point of distraction. Doctor Who has done sterling work in helping to normalise relationships of all kinds and I'm sure helped play a part in getting gay marriage a lot higher on the political agenda than it might otherwise have been. I suppose my concern is that by overplaying it, you risk fetishising the relationship. Just as I suppose my discussing it in depth here does. *vanishes in a puff of illogic*

Anyway I like Vastra and Jenny and hope there's more to be seen of them, preferably on their own terms. Talking of relationships, the one that gave me most difficulty was that between the Doctor and Clara. There's been much written about how the role of the companion in Doctor Who was to ask questions to enable the Doctor to explain stuff and to act as the point of identification for the audience. That doesn't comfortably cover all eras of the show because initially there were more companions to carry different strands of the action, sometimes to act as the hero (Ian, Jamie) and sometime to drive the plot. With as wide an audience as Doctor Who has identification comes at different points and the idea of one companion acting as proxy for the whole audience seems a bit silly. Having said this, it's understandable that the makers would choose to any newer members' concerns about regeneration through the companion's reactions.

But with Clara we have a glaring problem. Unlike when Rose witnessed the first regeneration of the returned series, we know that Clara has met several previous doctors. All of them, if you count her tumbling through the Doctor's time line, although we seem to have established some kind of amnesiac effect taking place, given her reactions in Day of the Doctor. However in that anniversary show we saw her interract with the Tennant doctor and show a remarkable empathy with the older portrayal by John Hurt. She could read him by looking into his eyes and had no problem with the Doctor appearing seventy plus. In Time of the Doctor she met and talked to the Matt Smith version that was a thousand years older than the one she knew. She had seen him age and helped him walk. Apart from the strange pre-regeneration scene in the TARDIS, where Smith was briefly rejuvenated again, she had got used to the idea of the Doctor being a very old man. Suddenly we are being asked to believe that this young woman who is remarkably empathetic is actually quite shallow and feels uncomfortable with the Doctor appearing middle aged.

Now I know that there was quite a bit of reaction on social media when Capaldi's casting was announced and much of it was from women who were used to the Doctor being younger and a bit dishy, but this was before the screening of both Day of the Doctor and Time of the Doctor. Surely the events of these would have served as explanation enough? I get the impression that Moffat was rather leant upon by BBC management following the casting to deal with this problem so it's had to be explicitly addressed in the action. The thing is Clara is just the wrong companion to carry this role. It would have far better gone to someone who hadn't been seen on screen to deal with previous Doctors and older versions. Vastra and Jenny have only been seen with young versions of the Smith Doctor before. Couldn't they have dealt with any objections to the Doctor's older appearance rather than being the wise ones? Better still, the series could have had the balls to not excuse or explain the change.

Despite all of this, I rather liked the Vastra and Clara scene and the whole veil metaphor. I would have left it at "When did you stop wearing your veil?" "When you stopped seeing it." rather than continue with the "I don't know who the Doctor is any more" nonsense. I liked seeing Matt Smith pop up briefly although again it smacked of a production altogether not entirely comfortable with the decisions it made. What happened to "Never explain. Never apologise"?
There wasn't a great deal of story beyond the regeneration, but it was fun to see clockwork robots again and to see some hints at a more ruthless Doctor. I'll be very interested to see how the season develops.

In the most recent Doctor Who magazine there's an interview with Capaldi that's quite illuminating and hints at some of the behind the scenes issues. He talks about ideas being discussed for the 2015 series and says that he'd like to continue but that the decision is not up to him. The impression given is that there's little doubt that Doctor Who will be recommissioned, but there is some doubt as to whether he'll be allowed to continue as the Doctor. In 1986 the higher ups decided to fire the incumbent against his wishes and the first time the Doctor was replaced in 1966 it seems the producers took a similar decision. In the sixties it was probably the best thing they could have done for the show. I think it was a damaging decision in the eighties. Today I feel it would suggest cowardice and a lack of confidence in the programme makers' decisions. Choosing an older actor to play the lead was a bold move but honestly, going with someone as strong as Capaldi is hardly terrifying. His talent is proven and he deserves more confidence.

The coming season will be different, but that's a good thing. I think it's going to be exciting and quite thrilling. And thank god we've said goodbye to split seasons and can look forward to an unbroken twelve episodes. As for Deep Breath? A new Doctor, a gorgeous dinosaur, old friends and a slightly familiar enemy. On the whole, it was pretty damn good.