Season/Series 9 continues with The Zygon Invasion, returning the suctiony alien jerks to DOCTOR WHO for the first time since The Day of the Doctor 50th Anniversary Special.  

There seems to be a touch of confusion regarding whether this episode is actually called The Zygon INVASION or The Zygon INVERSION.  It’s an easy matter to get tangled up in, but the short answer is:  the names of this episode and its follow-up next week are extremely similar, hence such uncertainty.  This week brings The Zygon Invasion.  Next week comes The Zygon Inversion.  Both, it would seem, will be totally Zygonriffic.  

​Invasion and Inversion are  scripted by Peter Harness, who brought us S8’s Kill the Moon (**** SPOILERS**** the one featuring nasty moon spiders, in which the moon is a great big egg).   Harness recently wrote  BBC’s adaptation of JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORELL  - a show I tried to love, although I found rather sluggish pace and directing quite a slog.  The issues with that show lie more in its presentation and less in its writing, though...so I'm not sure how much fault can be fairly leveled at Harness in that instance. 

Daniel Nettheim (from the K9 series!?!?!?)....

...and WHITECHAPEL directs here, in a tale which also features am appearance by Ingrid Oliver as ‘Osgood’ (last seen being vaporized by Missy in last Season/Series’ Death in Heaven)...

​...and Jemma Redgrave as UNIT boss Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. 

​Here’s a gallery of promo images from The Zygon Invasion - pictures may be added throughout the week should further images become available.  Be sure to check the discussion threads below for embedded clips and other related media.

​The Zygon Invasion discussion thread is now available below.  All are warmly welcomed and encouraged to participate!  However, as always…

​PLEASE NOTE: We warmly invite and encourage an open discourse and free exchange of ideas, but will enforce a strict zero tolerance policy regarding trolling, disrespect, or hate speak of any kind.


The Woman Who Lived 
The Girl Who Died 
Before the Flood 
Under the Lake 
The Witch's Familiar
The Magician’s Apprentice 
Ongoing DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 9 Multi-topic Megathread


COMING NEXT WEEK:  The Zygon Inversion  (S09E08)

The ninth Season/Series of DOCTOR WHO reaches its half-way point this weekend (discounting the Christmas Special) with The Woman Who Lived.  The story returns GAME OF THRONES’ Maisie Williams to the fold as Ashildr (introduced last week), and enigmatic sort whose life path has now been indelibly impacted by the Doctor.  

Scripted by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat, The Girl Who Died (this episode’s progenitor tale)  brought forth many laughs and a tremendous amount of well-considered heart. This successor episode, however, is written by Catherine Tregenna (TORCHWOOD, LAW & ORDER: UK), suggesting a story of a very different flavor may be in the offering here.  A notion borne out by episodic previews teasing a bit more high-adventure and rowdiness than last Saturday’s story - as well as an exploration of the ramifications of the Doctor’s recent handing of the Ashildr matter.  

The reality of a TORCHWOOD scripter taking on the second part of an episode I enjoyed very much fills me with no small amount of pause, but I’m going in with an open mind and heart…and with fingers crossed.

Below you’ll find an an atypically large gallery of unusually nice publicity shots from The Woman Who Lived.  This gallery will be updated throughout the week should more material become available.  Also be sure to keep an eye on the discussion stream below, where various media (video previews, further image material) may be embedded and discussed as well.

Welcome to Geeklectica’s discussion thread for The Woman Who Lived.  We’re so glad you could join us, and please feel free to jump right in!


PLEASE NOTE: We warmly invite and encourage an open discourse and free exchange of ideas, but will enforce a strict zero tolerance policy regarding trolling, disrespect, or hate speak of any kind.



The Girl Who Died 
Before the Flood 
Under the Lake 
The Witch's Familiar
The Magician’s Apprentice 
Ongoing DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 9 Multi-topic Megathread


COMING NEXT WEEK:  The Zygon Invasion  (S09E07)

​The fifth installment of DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 9 will be unveiled this Saturday, intriguingly entitled The Girl Who Died (the second part of this two-part story…transmitting next week…is conversely named The Woman Who Lived).  

The Girl Who Died inserts GAME OF THRONES star Maisie Williams into the WHOverse, a move which already has some fans clamoring for Williams to be installed as the Doctor’s companion once Jenna Coleman departs DW this Season/Series.  An interesting grab of a notion to be sure, but perhaps a touch premature given that we’ve seen little-to-nothing of Williams’ personality within this show, and know even less regarding the nature of her character.  This said, imagining a personality type like Williams traveling alongside CapaldiDoc is certainly not a stretch - nor would such a paring seem at all undesirable at face value. 

As inconceivable as this may seem, next week’s The Woman Who Lived will mark, more or less, the half-way point of this ninth Season/Series of DOCTOR WHO.  A run of episodes which, for my money, have demonstrated remarkable consistency and surprisingly clear ‘vision’ thus far.  Will the trend continue?  I’m looking forward to finding out…

Below is a gallery of official promo images from The Girl Who Died - the gallery will be updated through the week should more still become available.  Episodic clips (and further media from the story) may appear in the discussions below.

The Girl Who Died's discussion thread is now open for business.  Welcome!  Jump in!  Have fun!  And, as always…

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PLEASE NOTE: We warmly invite and encourage an open discourse and free exchange of ideas, but will enforce a strict zero tolerance policy regarding trolling, disrespect, or hate speak of any kind.



Before the Flood 
Under the Lake 
The Witch's Familiar
The Magician’s Apprentice 
Ongoing DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 9 Multi-topic Megathread

COMING NEXT WEEK:  The Woman Who Lived  (S09E05)

 
The Doctor and Mel land aboard an old mining establishment which had been taken over by the Sontarans and used as a place of experimentation. The Sontarans, true to their tradition, tested its occupants, human and non-human alike, for their strengths and weaknesses. In between tests, they were locked up, often ending up fighting amongst themselves. 

But something went wrong. 

Very. Very wrong.

The Sontarans in charge experienced the gravest of humiliation as they became afraid, very, very afraid, of something which lived on the planet that the mining establishment was at.

When other Sontarans come to take charge, to find out what happened, they find out they have to deal with the worst form of humiliation as the former Sontaran leader experienced what no other Sontaran had ever experienced: fear. 

When they find the Doctor is around, the Sontarans come to the conclusion that what s going on is all the working of the Doctor. The Doctor, they believe, with his Gallifreyan technology has done something to cause such panic, to destroy the sanity of the Sontaran leader. 
But the Doctor and Mel know otherwise. They came aboard soon before the other Sontarans arrived, and found the former inhabitants of the mining base imprisoned, and needing help. The Doctor goes to investigate what really is up with the planet, causing so much insanity, while Mel finds herself working with the a rag-tag band of survivors, including the former Sontaran commander who is many things which are quite unSontaran like – including knitting. 

The story tries to combine elements of the humor of New Who Sontarans with classical Old Who warriors, and so we get a mix of Sontaran types here. At times, I almost wondered if we were seeing the beginnings of Straxx, explaining the Doctor’s relationship with him, but by the end of the story, it didn’t happen. Other apparent nods to New Who are scattered throughout the story, as should be expected since Dan Starkey is famous in New Who for playing Straxx. These nods may or may not be what they seem – though clearly, they are made for us to think “What if…” And even by the end of the story, I still have a slight “What if…”feeling about them (is this a kind of origin story for the blanking blanks?). 

Sylvester and Bonnie are both good here, but they also have a lot of great interplay with the rest of the cast. I enjoyed the humor around “Anvil” Jackson, a would be heroic figure who, nonetheless, had a misunderstanding what his nickname meant. 
The Sontarans embrace more of the classical Who elements than New Who Sontarans, but, as even the writers point out, there are “silly” Sontaran scenes which embrace more of their engagement in New Who than Classic Who. Dan I expected enjoyed writing this, able to use his inside knowledge of the Sontarans – however, I do wish Straxx had been able to be put into it (or at least, one of the Straxx clone batch) – his early stories need to be told. 

While this is an enjoyable story, it is not as classic (on first listen) to Heroes of Sontar, which is my favorite Sontaran story to date. For, though the Sontarans are the star, and they have to deal with experiences they are not accustomed to, when it is revealed, it actually turns out to be more reminiscent to Lem’s Solaris than anything else I could think of. Not that it is entirely the same – there is a story there, but the solution, once the actual “threat” is determined, almost feels too simple; but that perhaps is why there is room for this to be the start of something else. This in the end had the ending feel as if it were a let down, dropping half a star off my rating.

7.5 /10

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PLEASE NOTE: We warmly invite and encourage an open discourse and free exchange of ideas, but will enforce a strict zero tolerance policy regarding trolling, disrespect, or hate speak of any kind.

​This weekend brings us Before the Flood, the wrap-up to Under the Lake (which began last week). 

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I struggled a bit with the pacing and logic of Under the Lake, but I’m going to give it another go prior to viewing Before the Flood this weekend.  I’m told Lake plays much more fully and successfully the second time around, and I’m looking forward to seeing if this proves to be the case.

I’ve previously asserted a belief that DOCTOR WHO sometimes struggles to ‘land’ the conclusions of its multipart stories; trailers for Before the Flood are managing to look even more intriguing than last week’s set-up - suggesting that it may well rally to a conclusion stronger and more interesting than its inaugural installment. Fingers crossed that it holds together, as there's a great deal of potential payoff here.  ​

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​Here’s BBC’s official ‘introduction’ to this tale….

​…and here’s a gallery of official promo images, which will expand should more become available throughout the week. 

​Geeklectica's discussion thread for Under the Flood, the fourth episode of DOCTOR WHO S9, is now open for business!  Please feel free to jump in and discuss this current episodic arc, while sharing other thoughts on DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 9 as well!

PLEASE NOTE: We warmly invite and encourage an open discourse and free exchange of ideas, but will enforce a strict zero tolerance policy regarding trolling, disrespect, or hate speak of any kind.

Under the Lake 
The Witch's Familiar
The Magician’s Apprentice 
Ongoing DOCTOR WHO Season/Series 9 Multi-topic Megathread

COMING NEXT WEEK:  The Girl Who Died  (S09E05)