S8E5: Time Heist (SPOILERS)

The Doctor robs a bank and Hammerhead from the Star Wars cantina makes an appearance! How could you not be excited?

Two of the more interesting mugshots from that trailer:



Now if they were active players in the episode, I'd be excited.

The creature looks cool.,

My only concern about this episode is that there is yet another 'mysterious sinister woman'. What is Moffat's obsession with them? River, Kovarian, Missy, Tasha Lem, this woman. It's getting painfully boring.

I don't know. She kind of reminds me of the lady with the sonic pen from "Partners in Crime," just a quirky one-off villain.

Scary wrote:

My only concern about this episode is that there is yet another 'mysterious sinister woman'. What is Moffat's obsession with them? River, Kovarian, Missy, Tasha Lem, this woman. It's getting painfully boring.

He must have a thing for sinister hot women?

The 2nd Doctor Roberts wrote:

Two of the more interesting mugshots from that trailer:



Now if they were active players in the episode, I'd be excited.

Uh, is that Captain John Hart?

And Abslom Daak?

Three minutes to go!

Really liked it.

Wow, that was a REALLY good episode! My favourite of the series so far! It was a very exciting and fast-paced mystery, very enjoyable with a final reveal that didn't disappoint! The timey-wimey-ness of the story also really worked for once, too - it wasn't overdone and actually complimented the story for a change. It was easy to understand and we actually got the answers to the questions that were raised throughout the episode, rather than us being left to hang for three years. At last we have a Moffat episode that isn't confusing or hard to follow!

I think this was possibly Capaldi's best performance so far. He just felt a lot more settled in this story than previously. I don't know if that's because I'm used to the 12th now or if it's because he just got a better chance to shine through this script. Either way it makes this episode a lot more fun than the previous four.

Spoiler:

I really liked the supporting cast. Sabre and Sigh (is that right?) were really well done, and Mrs Delfox actually turned out to be pretty fun and not another milking of the long dead 'mysterious sinister woman' archetype that Moffat has used over and over again. Definitely pleased with them and their roles in the story.

A nice solid story that really shows off the 12th Doctor's character well, gets time-wimey-ness right for a change, and is effectively mysterious, fast-paced and exciting. This will probably stick out as one of my favourite 12th Doctor episodes.

No complaints really! Voted 'Fantastic' and would give it a 10/10.

A few more hours before we get to watch this one. I love these threads Scary. Keep 'em going!

Another typical Nu Who story. Yawn.

Well, we check off the "Heist" off of our list of genre episodes left to do.

I love Peter Capaldi, but I haven't been too impressed with these first episodes.

I wanted to like this episode, but it was just "okay" in the end.

Well, it was better than the other episodes this series so far and that's not saying much (and thank you, less Clara though the scene with Danny was filler and not needed).  What was distracting was the editing of the episode and also BBCA's placement of commercials - the show is so not meant for these inserts.

Also, I'm noticing more and more the beginning scenes between the Doctor and Clara are stilted.  It's like they don't know how to get the episode going with fluidity.  And it doesn't help that the Doctor has a part-time companion rather than the NORMAL full-time one as it should be.  I guess without her, he can work on his formulas on the chalkboard with I believe is his way of trying to find Gallifrey.

Basically, I no longer expect much from this series:  keep expectations low and you won't be too disappointed when it continues to be of low quality as it has been.  They have the perfect Doctor in Capaldi (hope he stays for years to come) but he's stuck with poor scripts and being overshadowed by companions (and why do we need yet another mystery around a companion - Danny - miss the days when they join the Doctor for the adventure and have no family where he has to answer to or meet).

CrochetOwl wrote:

They have the perfect Doctor in Capaldi (hope he stays for years to come) but he's stuck with poor scripts and being overshadowed by companions (and why do we need yet another mystery around a companion - Danny - miss the days when they join the Doctor for the adventure and have no family where he has to answer to or meet).

Amen brother.

Agree with Poor scripts plus matts last season was also poor scripts

Take notes Future Network executives: This is how you take a Great show and Trash it.  I believe in the middle of the episode the prospect of my dog having to go out and sniff a lawn was time better spent.

*Granted there are a few repeat few good spots ' but few and far between

Next Weeks Episode looks more like a Lifetime TV show : Clara and Danny a Love Story (GACK !!!!!)

BBC fire all the Execs before its too late, This is worse than when The Fonz "Jumped a Shark" on Happy Days.

Save the show before its too late and I'm stuck watching Love boat reruns at 9pm on Sat!

Will i still watch Yes!  When you see a Train wreck in progress you can't take your eyes off it

This is the first one from this series I've liked.

Surprised to see so many disliking this episode, I thought it was great! Looks like there's quite a divide in opinion on the poll at the moment! I can understand the discontent with Clara and Danny's taking over of the screen and I agree that it's a bit too much (especially in last week's episode) but I thought it was very minimal this week. Probably part of why I was able to enjoy this episode more than the other four.

I just need an Episode to turn things around.  Maybe when they have the Big Missy Reveal will be cool.

Oh If you all have an app called Tunein Radio *type doctor who in the search.  They play audio adventures they have one posted with paul Mcgann and they also have a pod cast called radio free skaro posted usually monday morning

This was fun, a lot better than Robot of Sherwood, but pretty simple. Capaldi has certainly settled into the role well. I thought the Sy/Psi/Psy/Sigh and Sabra were really interesting, wish they could've had more time. (I really was hoping Sabra would've joined the team!) The episode was, well, not heist-y enough in all honesty. A little too on rails. A lot of potential but not the greatest execution. Some very wonky compositing on the CGI to live footage shots of the bank.

I also had a fun issue where BBCA's logo kept obscuring people's faces because the shots were formatted to have faces down there. Very strange. Again, another episode with weird editing. It's becoming a theme.

Surprised to see so much hate heaped on this one.

I really enjoyed Time Heist. It was great fun. So far this has been my favorite series since series 2.

TinDogRory wrote:

Surprised to see so much hate heaped on this one.

For me it's not hate but disappointment at the poor execution of the overall idea of the episode and shoddy editing of the final product. I really did like it but it could have been better and the 42-45 minute timeframe is just not enough to allow for many of the episode to 'breathe' properly. Maybe expanding it to a full 60 minutes would do the trick but ex-UK would receive cut episodes - they are basically accommodating for the influx of commercials within the show.

There's definitely not enough plot in this episode to have carried 60 minutes. (Indeed, many of the episodes this season have been pretty sparse and have struggled to get to the full time. And we have heard Moffat suggest shorter digital episodes.) The editing has been weird this season, but it's probably not for international ad-inserts as the ads on BBCA are rather weirdly placed in the episode. Something innovated by Mad Men is a counterintuitive type of ad structure meant to hook viewers more than the usual Teaser/4 Act structure with the ads a fairly uniform space apart. Instead you get about 20 straight minutes of episode before the first ad break, then increasingly more common ad breaks over the hour. BBCA routinely dump an ad in the last 2-5 minutes which disrupts a lot of the resolution. The way they did it in "Into the Dalek" was so... artless... that it lead many to believe they cut it for time. Which they didn't it was just a weird edit.

CrochetOwl wrote:

TinDogRory wrote:

Surprised to see so much hate heaped on this one.

For me it's not hate but disappointment at the poor execution of the overall idea of the episode and shoddy editing of the final product.  I really did like it but it could have been better and the 42-45 minute timeframe is just not enough to allow for many of the episode to 'breathe' properly.  Maybe expanding it to a full 60 minutes would do the trick but ex-UK would receive cut episodes - they are basically accommodating for the influx of commercials within the show.

I enjoyed the episode but I have to agree with this. at moments it seemed as though we missed something in the editing and this isn't the first time it seemed like this, It also seemed that way in the previous episodes. sometimes I really love the new series but then other times in moffets Sherlock universe he spins for the doctor there's just to much going on. I cant remember half the time what's been resolved and what has not lol. I like moffat and respect many aspects of what hes done as far as trying to reset some of the glaring problems and story holes the show walked itself into by not expecting to go for fifty years but I have recently been going back and rewatching a classic pertwee ep in the afternoon and going to bed to a classic tom episode at night and I am starting to really long for just a couple of seasons where the doctor and his companion just go on some adventures hang out with unit drive a Bessie and just have some morbid awesome fun. i cant help but remember that tom took over the roll brilliantly almost from the beginning of his run but really got running in the second season but (and for the record i think his first season is the most brilliant first season in the shows history, but i am incredibly biased since hes my doctor lol) ahem as i was saying his first season was engineered to be a fan favorite from the start to ease the transition from the hugely successful run pertwee and his whole team had accomplished. I'm hoping that this might be the case for capaldi. i hope they are carrying over some of the matt smith era to help the transition for all the people who maybe never saw doctor who until david or him and that in the second series he will really get a chance but only time will tell. been rewatching leela episodes and i gotta say i can really see capaldi doing well with a leela type character. ahh rant over. the show, like life is not concrete. it breaths and moves lives like a person with periods and episodes of great triumph and mistakes and stumbles. bottom line it was fun, but i have been very patient with the companion drama and i just feel like now i need a break, i need someone to get in the tardis and travel with the doctor and i pray she's an orphan who only learns here origins in her final episode lol.

I liked it