July 1st, 2017
136 comments
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What did You Think of The Doctor Falls?
Now that the Final episode of series 10 has been aired what did you think? Was it everything you had hoped for or not what you expected.
The Mondasian Cybermen are on the rise. It’s time for the Doctor’s final battle…
The Doctor is played by Peter Capaldi, Bill by Pearl Mackie and Nardole by Matt Lucas. Michelle Gomez guest stars as Missy and John Simm stars as the Master.
Doctor Who Series 10 Parts 1 and 2 Blu-ray / DVD
Available to order in the UK from www.amazon.co.uk
Available to order in the USA from www.amazon.com
Peter Capaldi returns as Doctor Who for twelve thrilling adventures. He is joined by new companion, Bill (played by Pearl Mackie), along with returning loveable alien, Nardole (played by Matt Lucas).
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Mr. J
July 3rd, 2017 - 11:39pmI wish they spent longer in the hellish apocalyptic setting of the city and spent more time with the masters actually feeling like sinister villains and a threat to the Doctor rather than the flirtatious side characters they became! That is my only complaint with the episode, considering it was such a huge deal that John Simm was coming back; I thought they made poor use of him – up until the point where he killed Missy! Just would have loved more time at the beginning with the Master being actually a threat to the doctor!
Tim M
July 4th, 2017 - 6:00amIndeed. After the events of ‘World Enough and Time’, you would have expected ‘The Doctor Falls’ to be even more darker in tone. So setting it completely in the rundown city would have been a more dramatic and worthy finale. Plus that cold and sinister Surgeon could have had a bigger role in the second episode.
Neal T
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:54pmWell the debate rolls on about the Doctor becoming a female Doctor next. But I think they have missed the best time to do this.It should have been a female War Doctor (please, I’m not saying John Hurt was bad, he was outstandingly brilliant!!).But the Sisterhood could have influenced the regeneration of the 8th Doctor to become a female Doctor, and how fantastic would it have been to have Helen Mirren as the War Doctor for the 50th Anniversary?!! Now it just seems like a gender change would be just a gimmick.
Pats86
July 3rd, 2017 - 9:12pmNever thought of that, excellent point.
Pats86
July 3rd, 2017 - 9:13pmAlthough Megan Fox would have been better.
starshipalaska
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:48pmReally amazing episode. Peter Capaldi’s acting and Rachel Talalay’s direction were just supreme.
I loved his speech to the Masters about being kind and it went in perfect tandem with the lack of incidental music, only a quiet birdsong.
Pats86
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:14pmMuch better than last season’s final Hell Bent, it was OK. Capaldi as good as ever, the Master/Missy were good together although it was disturbing watching them flirt I found that uncalled for and creepy, but killing each other off was rather good, Missy is actually going to be able to regenerate I hope?
Lots of lose end’s as we have come to expect from Moffat but I can live with that.
Moving on to the future I wish they would either have a female Doctor or write something into the shows cannon to make it impossible for him to change gender (considering gender is as fluid as Moffat keeps telling us it is, amazing that throughout the Doctors whole first set of regenerations he never did change gender, or indeed the first of his new set) it’s become boring now and is a distraction to the show I feel.
I will miss Capaldi’s Doctor, he has been brilliant and it’s a shame it was Moffat that wrote for him because it could have been so much better under someone else!
Exterminator
July 3rd, 2017 - 12:28pmWhere’s Cyberman Bill?
Not Pearl Mackie, I’m talking about the long time member of this site. I haven’t seen him comment in a while. He’s had the username Cyberman Bill for years and now there actually is a Cyberman Bill! I’d like to know what he thinks about that?
prototype dalek
July 3rd, 2017 - 6:38pmlast I heard he was quite ill and was in hospital, hope he is more better though
Exterminator
July 3rd, 2017 - 7:06pmOh no, get well soon Cyberman Bill.
Jordan Scott
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:59pmI was wondering that too due to the irony of there actually being a Cyberman Bill now
The Living Shadow
July 4th, 2017 - 11:17pmI was thinking exactly that too! I hope he is alright.
Tim M
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:10amSurely ‘The Doctor Falls’ should have been entirely set where the Cybermen were being created, in a dark, gloomy and foreboding floor level, rather than a seemingly open countryside mostly in daylight. The Doctor was shown by the Master, innocent people being taken to be converted into Cybermen. The story should have been one where the Doctor is making a stand, and trying to stop anyone else being converted in the factories. Thus preventing the further development of the Cybermen. Would have been better than saving people in a lovely countryside. One last point, don’t the Mondasian Cybermen look better in darkness rather than daylight.
Exterminator
July 3rd, 2017 - 11:48amI know what you mean, there was a mad surgeon doing the upgrades and converting humans into Cybermen and yet the doctor practically ignores this and lets him carry on to create even more. This guy is to the Cybermen what Davros is to the Daleks, their creator! Huge plot hole and missed opportunity to have a fantastic new villain.
I think they needed to have a countryside setting just so they could do loads of explosions in the finale, for obvious reasons your no longer allowed to blow things up in cities.
Tim M
July 3rd, 2017 - 11:59amThe Surgeon was the most cold and sinister character in the whole story, and he was only featured in a couple of brief scenes. That was an alternative narrative that would have been more interesting following, and ultimately meeting his comeuppance. A great character completely wasted.
Exterminator
July 3rd, 2017 - 12:16pmI agree, the Moff man tried to cram in too much given that he had to write a story featuring 2 Masters and only had an hour length episode. Unfortunately the mad surgeon quickly got forgotten.
As for the 2 Masters, that was wasted to. They didn’t actually do anything apart from stab each other in the back. I really wanted to see the Masters Tardis being flown into battle by Missy who saves the Doctor as payback for him sparing her life when she was about to be executed. Then in a moment of anger and hatred the Master could’ve shot her, that would’ve made more sense.
Tim M
July 3rd, 2017 - 12:54pmThe two Masters were played well, and had some good lines. But they did very little overall, so they were wasted too.
r1ch1e
July 3rd, 2017 - 7:23amI thought that this was a very very good episode indeed. A great finale! A great use of the Cybermen. Loved it!!!!!!
I did feel that the Two Masters plot was a little thin on the ground if I’m being nitpicky! I was expecting the Master and Missy to have some outrageous plan that would have ultimately and predictably backfired on them. But Michelle Gomez and John Simm did do thier parts justice with some great dialogue and banter between themselves and the Doctor.
Talking of which, how awesome was Peter Capaldi? This man was born to play the Doctor. There have been parts over the past three series that have elevated him slightly ahead of his predecessors in terms of dialogue but tonight’s speech about being kind is one that can really do magic in the world if it’s taken on board, like Missy did. I know Peter doesn’t write the words he says but he performs them to perfection every time. This is what makes him stand out as a Doctor, as an actor, as a person! He will be missed, as will everybody who has left this series.
Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas have been a sheer delight all series. Moffat does seem to get slot of stick for not keeping characters dead but in Bills case I thought it was a happy ending that she most definitely deserved, it just came far too soon. I have read that she has met with Chris Chibnall so I hope that she can be used at some point in the future. Whatever ahe does next though, she will I be amazing and I wish her all the best. As for Nardole, he has come such a long way since his the Husbands of River Song. Who would have thought he was a secret badass. It’s gonna be strange watching an episode without him. Strange as it sounds he has been in every episode since 2015 Xmas special.
Oh well at least we have David Bradley to take our mind off it. Btw what a meeting of minds that will be. 1 and 12 talking each other into regenerating! Im sure there will be something else up Steven Moffat sleeve too. I think David Bradley is an acceptable stand in fotr the late great Bill Hartnell, but I am glad they don’t need to recast the fourth doctor. Imagine what kind of mess that would be.
I want to finish with a great big Thank You to Steven Moffat! He has had so much criticism over the years and has stood tall throughout it! It must be so horrible to read such bad press about yourself when you are doing the job that you love. He has been the showrunner through the most important time in Who history. He gave us Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi! The Day of the Doctor with John Hurt,legend! (May you rest in peace sir). He transformed the Master into a lady, with astonishing results! He regenerated Paul Mcgann. And best of all, since 2005 has written for 8 Doctors. I am a very jealous man! Thank you for your devotion over the years! All the very best with Dracula
Whorules
July 3rd, 2017 - 7:37pmHe does leave an astonishing legacy. I wish him every sucess in the future and i hope he can fit in the occasionally who episode!
Pats86
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:20pmHe has left a legacy I agree, some of it was brilliant but overshadowed by the poor writing and decisions he made. For a so called fan he sure has split the fan base with some of his ideas, that were uterly uncalled for.
Tim M
July 3rd, 2017 - 10:11pmI often criticise Moffat’s writing, but even I would say he is one of the best writers the show has ever had. He has written some of the best and well remembered stories for each of the Doctors we’ve had since 2005. That is a remarkable achievement. My main nagging issue with Moffat’s style of writing, is this constant need to jump back or forwards several hours, days, weeks, months ect, at the start, or middle of an episode. I find it grating, and it’s like a flow of a story being interrupted by an advert break. It’s not clever, and more importantly not adequate for Saturday night early evening family viewing. That belongs in a TV slot for Sunday nights, such as Moffat’s and Gatiss ‘Sherlock’. Moffat’s strong points have been characterisation, humour, decent drama and the casting of 2 or 3 superb Doctors, Smith, Capaldi and Hurt. I just wish more of his stories had a beginning, middle and end, and in THAT order! I think Mr Moffat tried to be different and unpredictable with his style of storytelling. The trouble was this jumping back and forth in the middle of crucial scenes became more ironically predictable.
Stop that TARDIS
July 3rd, 2017 - 11:05pmOh don’t worry, Nardole WILL be back for one final episode 😉
r1ch1e
July 4th, 2017 - 7:30amTim M I agree! My favorite finale even now is Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and when you look at those stories and indeed others from the RTD era, they started with a threat and gradually built up the tension to an amazing climax. Beginning, middle and end.
Tim M
July 4th, 2017 - 11:16amOverall the RTD finale stories have been better and more coherent. Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways’ is my favourite.
Mick181
July 2nd, 2017 - 10:42pmI can’t help but get the feeling that every episode this season was 1/2 hour to short, felt to rushed.
RORY DOCTOR RIVER POND
July 2nd, 2017 - 9:40pmlast week was amazing
this was not
I didn’t really find it epic, or grabbing, it dragged and I found it quite boring
If you took the Master and Missy out of it, not much would’ve changed – in the end, both just pottered about ,there was lost potential there – we could’ve seen the beginning of Missy!!
Missy’s changed amounted in no heroic intervention which was sad
I think it kind of missed the point, there was no epic showdown with the Cybermen, and they just got blown into bits conveniently
It opened well, well acted, the Master and Missy were good together, but there wasn’t enough of that
As for Bill and Nardole, I never felt I knew them well enough to care too much about them or their endings
I’d say it was the worst finale out of the 60 minute ones
Hell Bent and Death in heaven were better, as they each had a the sense that they were going somewhere, there was proper action and significant things actually happened.
I saw in another review, this was summed up as “lots of good things that didn’t gel”
I’d agree
Exterminator
July 2nd, 2017 - 8:47pmThis was a very dramatic episode, yes there’s loads of plot holes and unanswered questions but it was a good series finale.
If last week was supposed to be a sort of genesis of the cybermen, then I wish they’d focused more on the mad surgeon performing the conversions as he would be to the Cybermen what Davros is to the Daleks. They’ve missed an opportunity there!
Lots of great moments though, like when that farm woman accidentally shoots CyberBill when she walked into the room. I loved the Cyberman (Bill) carrying the Dr’s unconscious body and how cinematic it looked after he’d blown everything up and was just lying motionless in the dirt. Very sad.
I thought it was hilarious when The Master said to Missy up close ‘is it wrong that i’m….(looking down)’ Her replying ‘Yes, very!’ Lol. (Bit rude but very funny) I also loved The masters little names for him/herself and their whole interaction was just brilliant. I’m gutted Michelle Gomez is leaving too.
Just looking forward to the Christmas special now, but I know it’s going to be emotional. It always is when the doctor dies. Peter Capaldi has done us proud.
Doctor no more
July 2nd, 2017 - 8:05pmGood but not as good as the last episode. John simm owned it, he’s got to come back, Brilliant ,the last five minutes were fantastic after bill had gone. The dr saying lines from previous Dr’s, seeing old companions and the last scene bringing the first doctor back was the best scene in the 12th doctors time line and will be an all time classic, let’s just hope the Christmas special is as good as we’re hoping.
Alex Who?
July 2nd, 2017 - 7:56pmI think THE DOCTOR FALLS perfectly summs up season 10: a lot of potenial that it didn’t live up to.
Doctor no more
July 2nd, 2017 - 8:06pmWell said totally agree
Pats86
July 3rd, 2017 - 8:21pmUnderstatement of the year I do believe 🙂
The Monitor
July 2nd, 2017 - 5:07pmDoctor Who is at an all time high. The best two parter since 2005, a brilliant Doctor, Moffat showing scripts to his superb pre-producer level, the best Missy performance, superb Cybermen and a proper true science fiction plot for quite some time.
How great is that. A pinnacle of Doctor Who in 12 years.
Yet the profitable and in-demand Doctor Who Experience exhibition is closing, the profitable and in-demand Doctor Who Experience shop selling unique and standard merchandise is closing, Capaldi is leaving, DWA at its final issue…
…I can’t get my head around these ridiculous polar opposites in our ever changing Doctor Who world.
Sandra
July 2nd, 2017 - 3:11pmThe Master and Missy were Great together! 🙂 I will miss this Doctor!
When The Doctor Was Me
July 2nd, 2017 - 3:07pmI have to say this series has been great. Best since series 5. Other than the monk trilogy I have enjoyed all the episodes some more than others. But WEAT/TDF and Oxygen are the highlights for me.
When The Doctor Was Me
July 2nd, 2017 - 3:04pmhttp://img08.deviantart.net/eec4/i/2017/183/c/3/the_doctor_falls_poster_edit_by_jakew1994-dbet5wr.png?1
made an update to my poster!
Simon W
July 3rd, 2017 - 10:08pmWow love the poster.
Tim M
July 2nd, 2017 - 1:48pmThe overnight figures are in, and ‘The Doctor Falls’ got 3.75 million viewers.
Sid Rat
July 2nd, 2017 - 9:59amSince this doctor took over I have at times not really enjoyed watching him, but he grew on me and I have enjoyed this series. Also, much prefer Moffat when he is writing the stories rather than trying to run the show. Really enjoyed these last 2 episodes.
47
July 2nd, 2017 - 9:17amHa !! It was like The Walking Dead meets Little House On The Prairie !!
I did enjoy this episode, the end with Bill was a little schmaltzy, and the narrative of the story were very natural conclusions.
Peter Capaldi and John Simm were particularly good in this, as was Pearl Mackie, they were the highlight of the show, and Capaldi of the series. Excellent.
I stand by all I have said about Nardole, he is nothing more than a vehicle to move the things to A-to-B, a dreadful character and actor.
Great to see the original Doctor – you may say.
This episode summed up the series for me; – good – pretty even, with no massive highs, and no woeful lows.
Peter Capaldi has been an excellent Doctor, he has been saddled with some bad stories and companion characters, I am pleased that he has had a generally decent series as his last, and I do hope these false regenerations (or Regeneration in progress) does not take the edge off of his last episode, and he is given a good one to go out on and not the usual Christmas Turkey that has been served up with Moffatt.
I look forward to seeing it, Capaldi has been GREAT !!
DWCR
July 2nd, 2017 - 12:42pmI disagree with your opinion (although it is a point well made) I enjoyed Nardole by the end, and also Matt Lucas’ acting. Though i was sceptical at the beginning, by the end i was won over.
Jordan Scott
July 2nd, 2017 - 2:46pmI also really enjoyed Nardole and loved how Matt Lucas portrayed him.
47
July 3rd, 2017 - 5:24pmWith Nardole/Lucas, I never see the point of littering episodes with “light comic relief”. It aint funny, and it is badly delivered.
We have a seriously good actor as The Doctor, and the episode(s) are supposed to dramatic and I don’t want to be cringing on the back of drama with cheap throwaway lines which litters the piece and narrative, ruining the dramatic prose, and this series has been littered with Nardole/Lucas gabbling away
If I want buffoonery, I’d waste my money on the Matt Smith era box sets.
We have (had) a superb actor in Capaldi who could have given the whole show a lot of maturation, and I just think bad comedy and bad comedic characters used as comic relief is a waste of space and under-minds the story – especially a dramatic one – and indeed – the whole show !
Weeping Angel
July 2nd, 2017 - 8:58amThis is just my opinion, but I just got confused with the story, I mean what happens to all of those cybermen that were not on that floor the Doctor blew up? Will Nardole look after those children forever? Can’t Bill find The Doctor if she can turn human again? So, can the Master ever return as they have killed each other? Because Missy cannot, because the actress is leaving the show? I’m so confused!
I would give this episode a 7/10.
I am definitely a mad man in a blue box
July 2nd, 2017 - 6:40amI haven’t yet seen anyone post a definit3 comment about the master returning so here goes. Yes the master and missy killed each other but everyone seems to forget that the master is going to regenerate into missy. Therefore we will be seeing missy again before the doctor tried helping her become good.
Really enjoyed the episode but to be honest the whole.thing with bill being resurrected and then them all suddenly.on the tardis was just a bit too far out of the realms of imagination and was more like desperation. A bit more thought was needed to make the transition smoother. However, really really can’t wait until Christmas!!!!
The Outcast
July 2nd, 2017 - 2:08amIt was ok. Probably around a 6/10, though it would have been higher if they didn’t resurrect Bill. Speaking of which, that entire segment felt really out of place.
The Other
July 2nd, 2017 - 2:02amAn amazing end to an amazing series! Best finale since 2005! Everyone gave great performances, the writing was fab and of course, Capaldi was magnificent as always.
Random Critic
July 2nd, 2017 - 12:05amFor a while there, this was actually a good episode, even with the Doctor pontificating yet again, to the Master of all people. But that ex-machina infested ending was just pathetic and left many loose ends. How did they get back to the Tardis? What happened to the Master? Will Bill continue the course of study she started at Uni? Will the Doctor still have his job at the University?
There were laughs to be had at the farcical death scenes. It was almost as if there was some competition on to see who could hold a conversation the longest after being killed. Apparently, a Cyberman laser is powerful enough to take out the side of a barn. But the Doctor is left standing, with mild heartburn, after taking two shots of this same laser. Any more laser shots and it would have been a Tums festival.
I still don’t get what’s so bad about being a Cyberman. The new versions don’t look particularly impressive, and I don’t get that teardrop thing with the eye design. Additionally, where are all the intermediate versions of their evolution, if they were evolving? In this ep, they only show the very old and the very new Cyberman versions. The dude that invented the internal combustion engine wasn’t driving around in a Subaru Impreza WRX the day after he invented it. So what gives with these flying Cybermen?
Strange that Bill only stayed for one season. Although she’ll likely make a return. Going by the ending, I foresee many jokes being made relating to comparative Doctor ages and Tardis interior designs.
The Outcast
July 2nd, 2017 - 3:28amI completely agree with you. I think the last 5 minutes let the episode down.
Techruyc
July 2nd, 2017 - 10:07amYea, so many loose ends.
Doctor Stu
July 1st, 2017 - 11:44pmI’d rather that be Bills ‘after life’ I hated how it was possible to eventually restore her one day so she basically isn’t dead at all we just won’t see her again. Why couldn’t he just kill her it would have been an emotional end and a final end for her after becoming a cyberman
Trenzalore
July 1st, 2017 - 11:36pmReally, really enjoyed it, really entertaining and a bit of a rollercoaster. Gonna miss episodes that reference things from 50 years ago when Moffat leaves (sounds as though Chibnall won’t do that as much).
I am truly gonna Miss Missy, made me pretty upset seeing her lie there motionless not gonna lie (the other thing that got me to tears was Cyberman Bill walking through the ash to the doctor)
Some things I didn’t quite like (girl with the star in her eye saving the day) but they were easy to forget when looking at all the other things that happen. Other things I didn’t like made sense after a while such as flying Cybermen – they needed to fly to get to the upper floors.
Peter Capaldi was amazing and I’m so excited to see him with the first doctor, makes me wonder what William Hartnell would think if he was alive today.
Obsie
July 1st, 2017 - 11:26pmHad to smile when Missy took the dematerialisation circuit from The Master, it was exactly the same (apart from size) as in Terror of the Autons.
Doctorfan
July 1st, 2017 - 10:55pmWhished we had seen master into Missy regeneration and at least the outside of his/her tardis. Otherwise a brilliant episode with a great end!!
The Outcast
July 2nd, 2017 - 3:31amYeah, I wish, instead of Missy killing him, Missy decides she wants to go and help the Doctor, he shoots her for it and it cuts. Later we’d see him in his TARDIS, attaching the demat circuit and taking off, only to get shot from behind by a 2013 Cyberman. He’d then Regenerate into Missy and it’d lead into Death in Heaven.
Mick181
July 2nd, 2017 - 10:35pmThey couldn’t do that as it mean any future Master would have to follow Missy and Simm made sure that Missy couldn’t regenerate and nowhere is it confirmed Missy follows Simm. I suspect in the future we will see regenerations between Simm & Missy.
Me & me
July 1st, 2017 - 10:22pmOMG that was good. Not quite what I expected but pleased that their was explanations as to why there was different versions of cybermen in the episode and that worked perfect!
The scene involving missy and the master killing each other was fitting and the way they both laughed gave me goosebumps! (The master will NEVER die!!!!)
The way that it tied into episode 1 was great and the flashbacks from the companions was brilliant! Very 5th doctor regeneration style
The albeit predictable ending was awesome with David Bradley playing the 1st doctor, likely during his regeneration story vs the mondas cybermen and also the revelation that he also refused to change gave me chills!!!!
AMAZING fan pleasing episode
100,000BC
July 1st, 2017 - 10:12pmWell, I cried. Personally I thought it was brilliant, especially to see the Doctor’s desperate heroism (without hope, without witness, without reward) and the culmination of each key character’s journey in the series.
Also a fantastic cliffhanger, it will be interesting to see how Christmas works out!!