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*OLD CONTENT REPOST*
We get back into the flow for a limited time as I review the first chapter of Doctor Who Flux, The Halloween Apocalypse.
https://yeonchi.tumblr.com/post/666920734615044096/doctor-who-series-13-flux-review-chapter-one
YeonchiDoctor Who Series 13 (Flux) Review Chapter One: The Halloween ApocalypseAir date: 31 October 2021
So after (nearly) two years, we finally have a new episode of Doctor Who. On top of that, we’re entering an arc concerning a phenomenon known as the Flux that will hopefully tie into the Timeless Child mystery.
It was rumoured during filming that there would be a Halloween themed episode that would premiere on 31 October given that there were pumpkins on the set as dressing, but that it would be the fourth episode, which would mean that the series would have premiered on 10 October. However, given what we know about the series now, I think it’s safe to presume that this series takes place around Halloween.
My spoiler-free thought for this episode: “Is it a series premiere, a series finale or did they just decide to combine the two?”
Anyway, spoilers continue after the break.
Bad (Aussie) airtimes part 2: Electric Boogaloo
There’s quite a few story threads introduced, so I’ll be going through each one of them separately, but before that, I want to rant about air times again.
In my review for Spyfall Part One, I talked about how the move from Saturday to Sunday ruined the broadcast timetable in Australia. I didn’t talk about this in the prelude because we didn’t have confirmed information from the ABC.
I woke up at 7:30 on Monday morning and sure enough, the episode was available on ABC iView because episodes are made available right after broadcast in the UK. As such, I watched the episode in bed before getting ready for work - that’s going to be my plan for this series, so I hope that I still get to work from home on Mondays and Tuesdays for the next five weeks after this.
Now that streaming is all done and dusted, what about the broadcast side of things? In the ABC’s initial announcement on Twitter, they stated that it would premiere on the same day (1 November) at 7:30 PM on ABC TV Plus. It should be noted that this is not the ABC’s main channel, but one of their digital multichannels. Throughout the day, it timeshares with their children’s channel, ABC Kids - this was also the case with the channel’s previous incarnations, namely ABC2 (2005-2017) and ABC Comedy (2017-2020). In the UK, the situation is like with CBeebies and BBC Four, except they’re actually on the same channel instead of two separate channels.
So if the first premiere isn’t on the main channel on the day, when is it? I’ve checked and confirmed that the episode will be repeated on ABC at 9:35 PM on Thursday (4 November), so if you were hoping to watch it in HD, you’ll have to wait until then. Honestly, things were so much easier when it was on Sundays at 7:40 PM, which is why the series needs to go back to Saturdays in the UK when the second Russell T Davies era begins.
Karvanista
When I first heard the name Karvanista I immediately thought of the name Evangelista. Just saying. Also, Karvanista is played by Craige Els, who also played Dan’s friend in the teaser that was broadcast after Revolution of the Daleks.
So at the start of the episode, we see the Doctor and Yaz hanging upside-down from a gravity bar, about to be released into a boiling acid ocean on a planet about to be engulfed by a giant red star, with kill discs to finish them off should they manage to survive. As Karvanista reveals that he is travelling to the final hours of Earth, the Doctor and Yaz manage to flip up and hold onto the gravity bar. Though the bar splits as they are being chased by the kill discs, the Doctor and Yaz manage to make it back to the TARDIS and head for Earth.
The Doctor and Yaz trace Karvanista down to Liverpool on Halloween night, where he had already taken Dan back to his ship. Through a laptop that the Doctor finds just laying on the table, she casts it to the television with her sonic screwdriver (which is impossible for a television of that size or model by the looks of it) and discovers that Karvanista has left Earth, but also that seven billion Lupari ships are heading towards Earth as well. As the Doctor wonders why Dan would have such a flashy computer (seriously, those widgets that pop up on the desktop are probably only used by hardcore gamers or computer enthusiasts, plus it’s usually impossible for a computer to just be able to track a ship instantly), she and Yaz realise that the computer isn’t Dan’s and they quickly escape the house just as the compressor blast (embedded in the laptop) shrinks it.
The Doctor and Yaz manage to sneak onto Karvanista’s ship. While Yaz goes to rescue Dan, the Doctor confronts Karvanista and orders him to tell her everything he knows about the Division; it is revealed that the reason why the Doctor sought Karvanista in the first place was because he is the only surviving member of the Division she could find. This implies that Time Lords aren’t the only beings involved with the Division, making it a bit like the Silence of Series 6.
Before she can get any information out of him (not that he was really willing to divulge any of it in the first place, the Doctor learns that Karvanista is on species recall and that each member of the Lupari is paired to a human (with Karvanista being paired to Dan); they are currently being tasked with evacuating humanity due to an ultimate crisis known as the Flux, a cataclysmic threat breaking every law of space and time disrupting every particle similar to the reality bomb of Series 4. As such, Karvanista is yet another misunderstood villain and a dead trope from Series 11 has been revived.
For those of you who haven’t been following my reviews, my definition of a misunderstood villain is straightforward, which is a being whose motives seem villainous due to how the protagonists see them until they learn that their motives are actually based on either altruism or survival. The actual villain of the episode obviously turns out to be someone or something else. The misunderstood villains I’ve found in Series 11 include the spiders, the Pting, the Thijarians, the robots and executives at Kerblam! and the Solitract.
After Karvanista tells the Doctor about the Flux and the motives of the Lupar, she and Yaz take Dan and leave in the TARDIS. The Doctor decides to investigate the Flux herself, but quickly becomes chased by it. She leads the Flux back to Earth and has Karvanista and the Lupar surround the Earth in the hope of protecting it, but she is unable to get the TARDIS back on the other side as it is being pulled into the Flux. The Doctor breaks into the heart of the TARDIS and shoots vortex energy at the Flux, but to no avail.
Dan Lewis and the companion commitment
From what we see of Dan Lewis (full name Daniel), he is a single man living in Anfield who supports Liverpool FC, gives unsolicited tours of the Museum of Liverpool (despite having a trade) and volunteers at a food bank. Although he is poor, he doesn’t seem to mind it so much as long as others are happy. Initially, Dan reminded me of Eiji Hino from Kamen Rider OOO, but on a later rewatch, I noticed elements of Gentaro Kisaragi from Kamen Rider Fourze, but without all the making friends stuff that is a signature of his.
The Chibnall era has really put a lot of focus on the North of England, with Sheffield being featured in Series 11 and 12 and Liverpool being featured in Series 13. I wonder how many people are able to understand the Liverpool (Scouse) accent without subtitles.
Looking at the companion side of things, I tend to prefer having full-time companions who don’t seem to have many significant attachments or anchors, whether it be in the form of employment, family or even education. This is because if you have someone who is already making a life for themselves, you have to remember to go back and address those things, otherwise you make them look as if they’re shirking commitments to be the Doctor’s companion. Also, I don’t like the idea of the Doctor having to pick up and drop off a companion multiple times during the series.
This situation has been covered in previous series, beginning with Rose Tyler, who was taken back to her home after a couple of adventures with the Ninth Doctor, albeit a year later than he initially hoped, resulting in her being reported missing by her mother, Jackie. Russell T Davies did this as he wanted to explore what would happen to the people their companions left behind; I mean, Rose was unemployed and ready for full-time adventure, but what about her mum and Mickey? She could have returned five minutes after she left and no one would be the wiser, but in this case, the Doctor got the time wrong and he can’t change it because the TARDIS became a part of events once it landed. While Rose is a good example of exploring this area, a not-so-good example was with Amy and Rory in Series 7 because they became part-time companions and the writers never really kept track of time which meant that the situation became confusing, but that’s something I’ll cover another time when I finally decide to do Doctor Who 10 for 10.
Let’s take a brief look at the previous companions of the New Series and their circumstances when they first became the Doctor’s companions:
Rose’s workplace was blown up by the Doctor when they first met, seemingly leaving her without a job; she never went back there even when it was rebuilt
Although Martha was a student doctor at the Royal Hope Hospital, this was never addressed again in Series 3
Donna was a temp with no fixed employment
Amy was working as a kissogram when she met the Doctor again; in Series 7, she worked as a model for some time
Rory was a nurse; in Series 7, he was asked to work full-time at the hospital where he was working
Clara worked as a babysitter before she became a teacher
Nardole was a former criminal
Bill worked in the canteen at St Luke’s University in Bristol
Ryan worked in a warehouse prior to meeting the Doctor, though dialogue in Arachnids in the UK suggest that he is unemployed
Graham was a retiree, having previously worked as a bus driver
In short, companions with real-life commitments only serve to hold them back, though in the case of Bill, there is also a separate circumstance on the Doctor’s part. Anyway, that’s enough waffling.
Swarm
In the Doctor Who panel for Comic Con @ Home, Chibnall teased this series with the word “swarm”. When the teaser came out at the start of October, the Doctor mentioned the Sontarans, Weeping Angels and Ravagers as some of the monsters that would be appearing in the series. Fans presumed that they would be part of the “swarm” as teased by Chibnall, with the final letter being represented by the Master. However, in the episode, it turns out that Swarm is actually an unknown being who was actually the teased monster of the #FindTheDoctor ARG.
When we first see Swarm, he has been imprisoned since the beginning of the universe in a containment chamber at the Burnished Rage battleground, visited by agents of the Division every thousand years (although the circumstances of his imprisonment are unknown at this point in time). On En Sentac’s last tour, Swarm manages to disable the technology holding him and reduce En Sentac to ash, absorbing her to “renew” himself into a new incarnation. At the same time, he also manages to establish telepathic contact with the Doctor.
After reducing En Sentac’s trainee, K-Toscs, to ash, Swarm goes to a house in the Arctic Circle where he finds his sister, Azure, living as a human named Anna with her partner, Jon. Swarm reduces Jon to ash as Azure’s true self is awakened, stripping away her human disguise in the process.
Later, Swarm makes contact with the Doctor again and confronts her. During this conversation, we learn that Swarm is an old nemesis of the Doctor during the time when she was apparently the Timeless Child. The reason I say “apparently” here is because we still don’t have full confirmation that the Doctor is the Timeless Child, only the Master’s word. Despite this, we still seem to be leaning in that direction as Swarm identifies her as the Doctor (by name) and notes how efficient her mind wipe was.
Other threads
In 1820, Joseph Williamson oversaw the digging of tunnels whose purpose were unclear to anyone, although he alludes that he is doing so because he foresaw the Flux. These are the Williamson Tunnels located in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool and another example of seemingly benign or unknown landmarks having greater importance in Doctor Who, following places such as Roald Dahl Plass, the Tower of London or Stonehenge. It’s kind of the same logic as innocuous objects like statues, shadows, Wi-Fi access points and bubble wrap actually being dangerous.
Dan’s friend, Diane, worked at the Museum of Liverpool and had arranged to meet Dan for drinks that night. However, as she was waiting on Lark Lane, she was pulled into an empty building by Azure.
When the Doctor and Yaz were about to leave in the TARDIS after investigating Dan’s house, they meet a woman named Claire, who they would meet again in their future and her past. As she returns home, she is followed by a Weeping Angel and she somehow knows not to blink when confronted by it. Although she manages to open her door, she blinks and the Angel sends Claire back in time.
On Observation Outpost Rose, Inston-Vee Vinder is making another report on his section of the universe when he discovers the Flux destroying Thoribus Minor and other planets. After making an emergency status update, Vinder abandons his post and escapes in the pod he is in as the outpost is destroyed.
Thirty trillion light years away, Sontaran commander Ritskaw is informed by psychic surveyor Kragar that the Flux is approaching. At the end of the episode, he is seen calling an attack. They’ll be the focus of the next episode.
There’s so many plot threads introduced in this episode that it’s a bit hard to keep track, though I’m not one to talk as I’ve been juggling around a lot of characters and overarching plot threads in my personal project. A single story is nothing when you’re dealing with a whole bunch of stories in a series.
Other general thoughts
Nadia Albina, who played Diane in the episode, was born without her right forearm and hand. She is also Vice Chair of the Act for Change project, a lobby group devoting itself to increasing diversity in acting roles. When looking up her name on Google, a related search result shows “thalidomide”. I’ll let you take that information and infer it for yourselves.
When Yaz meets Dan, she introduces herself as a former police officer, implying that she quit at some point. Honestly, it was for the best because despite the focus given on her being a police officer (with even her family mentioning her being “married to the job” in Arachnids in the UK), we never see much of it in the series. This goes back to my spiel on the companion commitment above. It would have been better if Yaz resigning from the force was mentioned in Revolution of the Daleks because it honestly looks like she forgot about her family and job for ten months while she became obsessed with finding the Doctor. Or maybe she was fired for neglecting her duties? Oh well, I guess we’ll never know.
Yaz gets annoyed at the Doctor for keeping secrets in this episode, namely the purpose of seeking out Karvanista and the glitch in her mind that came about as a result of Swarm psychically reconnecting to her. So far, the only person the Doctor has opened up to about the Timeless Child is Ryan, meaning that Yaz doesn’t know about what the Doctor saw in the Matrix.
We’ve gone back to the Impact font used to introduce locations and times, but it’s not slapped in giant letters right in the middle of the screen like in Resolution.
Something black and tar-like leaks in the TARDIS, but we don’t know what it is.
What is that emergency thing that Anna and Jon receive and what emergency are they referring to? It doesn’t look like a kill disc.
Karvanista’s weapon can switch between a gun and an axe, making its design and functionality similar to the Authorise Buster of Kamen Rider Zero-One. However, the modes seem to be flipped as the axe mode of Karvanista’s weapon is single-headed and the gun mode is double-headed. The way it shoots resembles the Z Lance Arrow’s shooting attack from Ultraman Z. Additionally, on a non-tokusatsu-related note, when Dan finds himself on Karvanista’s ship, we see Karvanista sharpening what appears to be a mandarin duck hook (or deer horn knife), which is the signature weapon of Lianshi in Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires. Hopefully I’ll elaborate on this more in a future series, but I will say that while the concept is good, the execution is a bit complicated.
The Doctor uses leftover Hopper virus particles to deactivate parts of Karvanista’s ship.
When Dan enters the TARDIS, the door doesn’t end up where it should be for some reason. This marks the second time that a new companion has not entered the TARDIS normally for the first time through the door, the first time being Donna Noble in The Runaway Bride.
This episode was dedicated to foley artist Julie Atkinson, who supplied sound effects for Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures from 2005 to 2017.
The BBC’s “new” logo debuts in this episode, having been introduced over a week before broadcast. This is unrelated to the episode, but the new logo doesn’t look that much different from the old one. I read that they were going to replace the Oneness idents on BBC One with the corporate rebrand, but apparently they are staying for now, but will be phased out, presumably in 2022. Honestly, the Oneness idents just seem lazy. I prefer the circle idents better.
Summary and verdict
So this was a pretty epic episode to start off this new story arc with. While there were no SJW red flags, the episode started learning towards the worst case scenario regarding the Timeless Child. On top of that, there were too many plot threads introduced in this episode. I felt that the scenes featuring Williamson and the Sontarans could have been moved to their respective episode, which would shave five minutes off of this one, but hey, I guess that’s a good use for filler. At least I got to tease my own future content given how much teasing the BBC did for this series.
Rating: 6/10
It’s taken some time for me to get back into the flow of writing Doctor Who reviews given the changes in my life and the focus I’ve put on other things since the end of Series 12, but it’ll be over before we know it because of how short this series is. Stay tuned next week as I review the second chapter of Flux, War of the Sontarans.