Let's look at the latest special featuring The Doctor and Friends!
Hey everyone!
Welcome back to the lab and a Happy New Year to you all!
We are back after a little Christmas break and we hope everyone had a great Christmas, Today’s post is a review all about yesterday’s Doctor Who Special: Revolution of the Daleks. So without any further ado. Let’s jump straight into the review.
There will be spoilers in the following article, whilst we will try our best to give people a chance to watch it, still read at your own risk!
After nearly a year since it was last on our screens, Doctor Who flew back onto our screens on New Years days. The story picks up 10 months since the last episode as Yaz; Graham and Ryan (Mandip Gill; Bradley Walsh & Tosin Cole) are settling into life back on earth. The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) however is locked away in prison for what has been centuries, living a routine of day to day prison life against many of her famous foes such as Weeping Angels, The Silence and The Ood.
Seeing The Doctor locked up was interesting too see because she’s stripped away of everything she would usually have to save the day, her sonic, her TARDIS and her friends (or as she calls it her ‘Fam). Going into the episode we were lead to think this would last the majority, however after 15 minutes she had escaped with help from none other than fan favourite Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).
The scene that followed, was quite simply delightful, having not seen Captain Jack in Doctor Who since 2010, he returns to the screen as if he has never been away. His chemistry with Jodie's Doctor is electrifying and shows why the paring of The Doctor and Jack is perfect and so much fun to watch play out. Cut back to Earth and the rest of The Fam are discovering the plan which features the return of both The Daleks and Series 11 Villain Jack Robertson. We get to see how difficult it can be to navigate a task like this without The Doctor around and also how they have adapted to life back on earth with some handling better than others.
In the 10 months since being back both Ryan and Graham have adapted to life back on earth. Resuming their old lives. Yaz however, hasn’t, she has adapted quite the opposite. It’s clear she’s not ready to stop life with The Doctor and yet she’s also angry with her for leaving. Once The Doctor and Jack reunite with the gang, it’s then interesting to see how they all react to being together once again. It easily one of the best threads of the episode.
A dynamic I really enjoyed watching play out on screen was the dynamic between Yaz and Jack. There’s one scene in particular where Jack speaks to Yaz about travelling with The Doctor and how pain follows yet also joy. It’s such a nice dynamic to watch play out on screen and it’s one I hope they return too in the future. With Jack even hinting to the return of Torchwood, fans are praying this is not the last we have seen of our favourite time agent (Please BBC please!!). The special also saw the departure of Ryan and Graham, whilst we won’t spoil exactly how they leave, I think the ending they got was fitting for both there characters and definitive and seeing ‘The Fam’ break apart was quite tear-jerking.
As we have already mentioned, the special featured returning for Jack Robertson from series 11 but more Importantly The Daleks. Without giving much away we get to see Daleks both old and new in the special and it truly is spectacular. There’s one scene towards the end of the episode that involves both The Doctor; The TARDIS and The Daleks that looks visually incredible. it was jaw-dropping. In terms of the visuals, Doctor Who had never been stronger. it looks like a blockbuster movie which is great. Whilst It was exciting to see The Daleks return true to form, I’m excited to see new foes next series.
Looking back at series 12 and this special in particular it feels like showrunner Chris Chibnall knows the direction he’s going in for the show, it’s gathering pace and hitting its stride for this era. It makes it very exciting to see where they go in Series 13. Whilst it would have been exciting to just be 13 and Yaz in the TARDIS I for one am exciting for new addition John Bishop to jump on board! Let’s give him a chance guys!
Overall Revolution of the Daleks was a strong spectacle of an episode, whilst it was fun to see The Daleks again it was the character developments and also the Return of Captain Jack that made this episode strong for me. Whilst there was some weak moments and threads left open, overall I came out of this episode having had a great time. After the year we have just had, we needed The Doctor to show us hope was not lost, she couldn’t have returned at a better time.
So there we have it, our thoughts and feelings on the latest Doctor Who Special. What did you think?! Let us know in the comments below!
We will be back next week for a brand new post, and a new series for the lab, we’re going to be looking in depth at some of PopCultures most loved characters! So stay tuned for that!
Is there anything you want to see from the lab?! Get in touch!
Until then,
Stay safe, look out for each other.
Happy new year,
Harry x