OK so this is a bit of a historical post (well more current affairs really and no I don't mean the news) as it will cover the beginning of an new era in Doctor Who as I went and saw the first episode of the 12th Doctor's era tonight, played by Peter Capaldi who makes his debut as the Time Lord. So let's load up and have a look at this un..... (AND A FEW PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!)
So the story begins in Victorian London, where a dinosaur roams the city and it suddenly spits out a police box, the TARDIS which crash lands on a beach (upright!). Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) a Silurian, along with her human maid and wife Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and her Sontaran butler, Strax (Dan Starkey) arrive at the scene and as they approach the TARDIS, the doors open and the newly regenerated twelfth doctor (Capaldi) emerges babbling incoherently as he appears to be talking the dinosaur, he soon becomes overwhelmed and blacks out. Vastra, Jenny and Strax then take the Doctor and his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) back to Vastra's residence where the Doctor continues rambling away until Vastra tricks him into sleeping, however during his sleep he senses the dinosaur's thoughts and speaks out loud about the creature's loneliness. Vastra in the meantime speaks with Clara, who is unhappy with the Doctor's new change of appearance as well as his erratic personality.
The Doctor meanwhile awakens and makes his way down to the river as he hears the dinosaur's pleas but when he arrives the dinosaur bursts into flames. The Doctor is soon joined by Clara, Vastra and the others and he angrily seeks answers and asks if there has been any other deaths by spontaneous combustion, which Vastra confirms there has been. The Doctor then dives into the Thames as he spots a man walking in the distance unfazed by the death of the dinosaur and he begins to investigate. Meanwhile Clara returns to Vastra's residence where Clara spots an ad in a newspaper which says "The Impossible Girl" which is a reference to herself (from the previous series) which points to a restaurant in London. Clara thinks the Doctor placed this ad and goes to the restaurant where she meets the Doctor, who tells her he didn't send and that there is something seriously wrong with the occupants who appear to be eating meals but turn out to be robots. The Doctor realises they have walked into a trap and as they try to leave the robots stop them and they are taken down to a lower level where they find the man from earlier, who is sat in the chair, and is in fact a cyborg. The Doctor examines the inert cyborg who is made up of parts of other people's bodies, however the man starts to awaken as do the other robots and from here the Doctor and Clara must find a way to escape from and defeat the deadly robots.
As the first story of a new era in the show, Deep Breath is a very entertaining episode and it does a fine job of introducing the new Doctor played by Peter Capaldi. Peter Capaldi himself is great in the role as the Doctor and he plays him with a hint of the raw sarcasm that he brought to his unforgettable character Malcolm Tucker, from the political satire, The Thick of It, but at the same time he also shows the essential goodness and eccentric qualities the Doctor has. Peter also get's some priceless dialogue to deliver as Steven Moffatt has written a very funny and clever script and naturally he has some real highlights in the story. Such as the scene where he first arrives in London and opens the door and sees Strax and tells him to "shush!" and then proceeds to babble on about him being one of the seven dwarves! Later on he has a funny scene where the Doctor speaks with a tramp and he starts to mimic the sounds that 10th Doctor made i.e. the "ooooohhhh!" and he realises he has a Scottish accent and he says "I'm Scottish! I'm Scottish! That's good! I can complain! I like complaining!" and goes on about how severe his new eyebrows are! Also the scene where he paces around the bedroom at Madame Vastra's residence and babbles away saying "What's the point of having a room you only sleep in and leave when you are awake! And don't look in that mirror its absolutely furious!!". Also in the scene the Doctor whinges on about how Clara and Jenny "both have the same accent! You are both talking in English! You've developed a fault!" and then Madame Vastra has the idea of talking to the Doctor in a Scottish accent and he sighs with relief and says "Finally! Someone who can talk properly!". So for his first episode, Peter really does well with his role and he embraces the comedy as well as the drama effortlessly and you just know he's going to have a ball with this part.
As for the other cast members, Jenna Coleman is fine (and fine!) as the Doctor's companion Clara, and she plays Clara's alarm and concern over the Doctor's change of personality and appearance very well, and how she struggles to adapt to his new regeneration. And thankfully Peter and Jenna both share a nice onscreen chemistry with one another as the two of them work very well together onscreen. This is particularly noticeable in the scene where they meet in the restaurant and Clara argues with the Doctor about her egomania and the Doctor starts to notice the peculiar behaviour of the soon to be revealed robotic diners and he says to her to never mind about her egomania and Clara says "nothing is more important than my egomania!". And later on they both share a nice moment where the Doctor has supposedly taken Clara back home to London in her time, but she can't bring herself to want to travel with the Doctor anymore, but she receives a phone call which changes her mind. And the Doctor then reveals to Clara that they are actually in Glasgow and he overshot the mark and Clara says "Oh, you'll fit right in!". Jenna has another good scene aswell where she is temporarily abandoned by the Doctor in the robotic lair and she is forced to confront the cyborg leader.
As for the other cast members, Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart both reprise their roles nicely as Madame Vastra and Jenny respectively, who are of course a married couple (nice!). And Dan Starkey almost steals the show as Vastra's Sontaran butler, who was actually a nurse in the Sontaran army. Starkey has some hilarious scenes in the story as well such as the scene where he tells Clara that the Doctor will return soon and "then we will disintegrate him in acid!" remembering the creed of his race as the Doctor was their sworn enemy and he says "Sorry old habit!". Another funny scene is where Strax in his butler outfit says to Clara "may I take your coat?" and she says "I don't have one!" and he says to her "Well what are you wearing?" and she says "clothes" and he says "Well can I take your clothes?!". And later he asks Clara if she wants to read the newspaper and she says yes and as he is down below and he throws the paper mightily up at Clara who is it right in the face and knocked off her feet! And as I saw the episode in the GFT cinema we were treated to a five minute teaser clip with Strax providing a hilarious overview of the Doctor's regenerations and he mocks each of the Doctor's incarnations for their facial and personality traits. And lastly Peter Ferdinando provides an effectively creepy performance as the story's villain, half-faced man, who's CGI make-up is quite impressive as we see half his face is human skin while the other half is transparently mechanical.
As for the new title sequence for the show its quite impressive with the cogs and clock faces as well as the glimmer of Peter Capaldi's unmistakable eyebrows! The new version of the title theme isn't anything great but the music for the story is actually quite good and again it is composed by the show's regular composer Murray Gold. And Steven Moffat's script for the story as previously mentioned is really funny and well written and it provides a perfect intro for the new Doctor.
So that's it for my look at Deep Breath which sees Peter Capaldi's reign as the twelfth doctor get under way in fine style and it bodes well for the rest of the season over its 12 episode run.
And on that note I shall bid yee goodnight!
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