S8E8: Mummy on the Orient Express (SPOILERS)

Really looking forward to Frank Skinner in this episode!

It looks like Horror Express!

Evil Monkey Pope wrote:

It looks like Horror Express!

That was the first thing I thought of too!

I was okay with the Titanic in Space.... but this looks ridiculous.

Wasn't 11 supposed to have gone on a similar adventure as part of the Ponds' honeymoon?

LOVED it!

Finally a story worthy of Capaldi's Doctor! Next week looks good too! Fingers xd!!

Again, not a very realistic story. but an enjoyable one. I feel like I can picture Moffat and co. as this story was pitched. "The Orient Express in Space!" High fives all around.

I liked the juxtaposition of 1920s fashion and futuristic tech. The Doctor looked really smart with his old fashioned bow tie. Too bad it can't be added to his "minimalistic" outfit.

It still feels like they make the Doctor too cold and mean at times, but at least they are starting to address the issue that it's something the Doctor is hiding behind and not his true persona.

That has to be the most exciting episode in a long time! I loved it!

I went into this episode with low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking it.

Yay! It didn't suck!
Capaldi sounded just like Tom Baker whilst talking to himself in his compartment.
I need to carry jelly babies in a cigarette case.
Is Foxes's song available by itself someplace?
The retro-futuristic mash-up aesthetic was just right!
How'd gus get the mummy on each of the testing trains?
Those dialogue free scientists were worthless.
I'm not a fan of Clara changing her mind.
The Empty Child callback was perfect.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, as it was exactly NOT what it appeared to be based on the previews. This was The Doctor as scientist at it's finest. I am loving Capaldi's performance so far.

The scene on the rocks at the end was brilliant. It's one of the first hints that the compassionate Doctor we've all known is still in there somewhere, but for one of the first times in a long time, we got a window into how he thinks. For all his genius and experience, he isn't always sure he can save people, but as an alien and a man outside of time, his professional detachment (so to speak) to at least make the deaths of those he can't save serve to help those still living was a fascinating insight.

This Doctor knows exactly who he is, and has a good idea of what he's capable of, and I for one, think it refreshing to have a Doctor who doesn't always have the time or the inclination to explain everything to "lesser" beings just so they will like him or not get their feelings hurt. He's a man of action, living on the edge, and that necessitates a certain amount of "do first, ask questions later".

I think, Clara (and we the audience) sometimes forget that as a time traveler, everyone he's ever met is dead at some point in some future, so "saving" people is a futile and temporary gesture on his part in that respect, yet there he was, risking himself to "save" strangers on a train.

One of the things I'm loving about this season, and the Doctor/Clara relationship is that Moffat & Co seem to want to remind us that traveling in space and time can be dangerous, difficult and not always end up with a perfect resolution. Coming directly from 11's tendency to always save the day, perhaps we (and Clara as audience proxy) needed reminding of this. It's made the show a bit darker and less certain, for sure, but also more interesting and unpredictable at the same time.

I loves me some Tennant and Smith, but I can't shake the feeling that somehow we'd have found out that all the people the mummy killed were somehow still alive or saveable if it had been one of their adventures. Classic Who had collateral damage everywhere, and those Doctors rarely got sentimental about it. That's what made Eccelston's "no one died" in The Doctor Dances so poignant, IMO.

Another good one! A very Doctor-centric episode so I really enjoyed this one. I really like how the Doctor deals with things now in that morally questionable way, very much like the 4th Doctor's attitude towards people dying, too. But it was also nice seeing the facade sort of fall away at the end; he's not as "mean" and "heartless" as some have been saying. The scenes where he's talking to himself are great, too. Oh and the jelly babies in the cigarette case - loved it - made me smile!

I'm not buying Clara's choice to stay with the Doctor. I don't know if it was how it was scripted or how it was performed or what, but it just didn't work for me. That sudden and rushed "Right I'm staying after all " just didn't wash. Clara's really starting to annoy me, which is a shame because I was really enjoying her before 'Kill the Moon'.

Frank Skinner's character, Perkins, was great and I wish he'd accepted the Doctor's offer to travel in the TARDIS with him. He'd make for an awesome companion, I'm sure. The Foretold/Mummy was cool, too. No idea why any of it was actually happening, but I'm guessing Gus was set up by Missy or something? Yeah the resolution wasn't very satisfying but it was great to see the Doctor save the day like that. I wish we'd got more of an explanation though.

Overall, this was a good story. Not the best in terms of plot really, but it was a great chance to see the Doctor develop some more. I really love Capaldi's Doctor. Every time I look at him I can clearly see the Doctor. I never had that with Matt Smith unfortunately. Definitely one of the best episodes of the series so far. Is it the best? I don't think so, but it's certainly a good second-comer. 8/10.

Pretty great episode! I've been loving Capaldi's portrayal of the Doctor. He's very rough around the edges, but they try to keep him from being too rough all the time (like at the end on the beach). Speaking of the end, I wonder what the Doctor has been scribbling everywhere? Maybe it has to do with "The Promised Land?"

Rogue wrote:

Pretty great episode!  I've been loving Capaldi's portrayal of the Doctor.  He's very rough around the edges, but they try to keep him from being too rough all the time (like at the end on the beach).  Speaking of the end, I wonder what the Doctor has been scribbling everywhere?  Maybe it has to do with "The Promised Land?"

I like what someone else suggested on the forum that all of this scribbling and working out stuff on the blackboards in the TARDIS is him trying to figure out a way to retrieve Gallifrey from its pocket dimension.

Loved it, great atmosphere... a nasty concept that you have 66 seconds to live and you cant do anything about it, how do you spend the last seconds of your life?

It was neat to see the Doctor in a 1st Doctor style costume, little bit 1st series 3rd Doctor also.

Peter is naturally "the Doctor" he plays it with so much ease, grace and style. He dose not have to prove anything to anyone.

The music video is enjoyable buy why is she singing into to back of the microphone? I'm a full time singer/entertainer and there is no way you would see me miming to a song in a music video singing into the rear of the microphone.

Really strong. I can't think of another time we got eight episodes in a row of such quality. Fun concept, even a little call back to Eleven mentioning the Orient Express in Space. Great aesthetic and a fun, very Doctor-y ending. Was Capaldi purposefully "talking to himself" in Tom Baker's voice? This is the second or third time he's embodied that voice.

Just lovely. I was kind of sad the Engineer didn't stick around, because he was a really fun foil to Capaldi. The "You're genius, you figured it out. Well, actually you didn't, sorry about jumping the gun." And you really get the sense that Capaldi likes him in a way others haven't. I like the idea that Twelve is more open about companions: Courtney, Psy & whatshername from "Time Heist", even Danny after a fashion.

I was really hoping we'd get a bit more out of the Frasier-y scientist. And the Train Captain was a fun antagonist, too.

As to the question of how Gus got the mummy on each train, clearly he moves the Flag from train-to-train via a transporter.

TinDogRory wrote:

Was Capaldi purposefully "talking to himself" in Tom Baker's voice? This is the second or third time he's embodied that voice.

Wouldn't it be great if the voices of all his previous incarnations are still rattling around in his head? What a twist it would be if every time he talks to himself, he's actually really talking to a different version of himself.

fatsal wrote:

TinDogRory wrote:

Was Capaldi purposefully "talking to himself" in Tom Baker's voice? This is the second or third time he's embodied that voice.

Wouldn't it be great if the voices of all his previous incarnations are still rattling around in his head? What a twist it would be if every time he talks to himself, he's actually really talking to a different version of himself.

Moffat did say something about the second life cycle meaning the Doctor is a little bit more muddled up and a few wires in that old brain of his aren't necessarily connected properly, which is why he was a bit senile in 'Listen'. I guess that could explain the different voices. It's certainly how I like to look at it.

neat episode. scary mummy.

This series of episodes keeps getting better and better.

For the first time since series 4, I look forward to a new episode of Doctor Who each week.

This epi was very Who-ish to me...a touch of the "past" juxatposed in the "future"...

...reminds me of a personal favorite of mine - Enlightenment

SJA wrote:

The music video is enjoyable buy why is she singing into to back of the microphone? I'm a full time singer/entertainer and there is no way you would see me miming to a song in a music video singing into the rear of the microphone.

"In Space...no one can hear you sing!"