Post by matthewsee on Feb 19, 2020 11:06:22 GMT -5
Penultimate story of season 42.
Doctor Who debut by writer Maxine Alderton.
Villa Diodati is a mansion which is well known for being rented by Lord Byron and visited there by Percy and Mary Shelley.
Big Finish had presented Mary Shelley as a companion of the Eighth Doctor and played by Julie Cox.
In The Haunting of Villa Diodati has Mary Shelley or Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin as she was known here played by Lili Miller. I had thought she had looked familiar but when I look her up on IMDb she has two previous credits neither of which I had seen.
However I soon realise that she look like another actress Imogen Waterhouse who have seen in the TV series The Outpost.
Playing Dr John Polidori is Maxim Baldry. Last year 2019, Baldry was in Years and Years.
This starts with a cold opening, the second consecutive story to have one, the first time in the Whittaker era and notwithstanding the Skyfall two-parter.
Funny when Lord Byron said that there was nothing to be afraid of, only for a terrified Doctor and friends to turn up at the door marking the end of the cold opening.
Fun seeing the dance.
Creepy when that spider-like thing turned up.
Taken aback when Graham went around in a circle at the staircase but this was only the first of many circular occurrences.
The spider-like thing grab Ryan by the neck and made me think of the Auton hand doing the same thing to the Ninth Doctor in Rose.
The helmet worn by the Doctor made think of Hugh Grant wearing a similar one in Sirens.
Amusing when Graham says he sees dead people, The Sixth Sense reference.
The Doctor keeps getting called Mrs Doctor.
If the Doctor was still a man I doubt he would have been called Mr Doctor and this was set in 1816 when female physicians were completely unheard at the time as this was five years before the birth in 1821 of Elizabeth Blackwell, the world's first female physician.
Funny when the Doctor made the anachronistic statement of the resumption of normal service.
The Doctor gave the definition of a zombie being a dead person walking.
This episode came on February 16 2020 and if it had come exactly a week later on February 23 it would have been on the same day of the start of the second half of season 10 of the zombie series The Walking Dead!
I had gotten a hint that this would be linked with the two-part Cybermen story that ends this season but it still took me by surprise when the Lone Cyberman turned up as I had no idea it would take centre stage here.
Big Finish had Mary Shelley (Julie Cox) meeting another Lone Cyberman the titular The Silver Turk.
Wonder if The Haunting of Villa Diodati can be reconcile with The Silver Turk.
There was literally writing on the wall and it was fun when Yaz pointed that out.
Was shocked when the Lone Cyberman did not speak in a mechanical voice but in a normal voice.
Intriguing how Percy Shelley came into this and how it relates to the Lone Cyberman.
Funny when the Doctor suggested to the Lone Cyberman that they split up for a search, in other words an opportunity for the Doctor to get away from him.
This has been a haunting (pun intended) episode and good, the somewhat temporary solution the Doctor came up with the Lone Cyberman with it being step 1.
Now for step 2 which is to fix up the mess with step 1.
Very good episode and the reading by Lord Byron certainly reflects on what the Doctor is about to face.
Doctor Who debut by writer Maxine Alderton.
Villa Diodati is a mansion which is well known for being rented by Lord Byron and visited there by Percy and Mary Shelley.
Big Finish had presented Mary Shelley as a companion of the Eighth Doctor and played by Julie Cox.
In The Haunting of Villa Diodati has Mary Shelley or Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin as she was known here played by Lili Miller. I had thought she had looked familiar but when I look her up on IMDb she has two previous credits neither of which I had seen.
However I soon realise that she look like another actress Imogen Waterhouse who have seen in the TV series The Outpost.
Playing Dr John Polidori is Maxim Baldry. Last year 2019, Baldry was in Years and Years.
This starts with a cold opening, the second consecutive story to have one, the first time in the Whittaker era and notwithstanding the Skyfall two-parter.
Funny when Lord Byron said that there was nothing to be afraid of, only for a terrified Doctor and friends to turn up at the door marking the end of the cold opening.
Fun seeing the dance.
Creepy when that spider-like thing turned up.
Taken aback when Graham went around in a circle at the staircase but this was only the first of many circular occurrences.
The spider-like thing grab Ryan by the neck and made me think of the Auton hand doing the same thing to the Ninth Doctor in Rose.
The helmet worn by the Doctor made think of Hugh Grant wearing a similar one in Sirens.
Amusing when Graham says he sees dead people, The Sixth Sense reference.
The Doctor keeps getting called Mrs Doctor.
If the Doctor was still a man I doubt he would have been called Mr Doctor and this was set in 1816 when female physicians were completely unheard at the time as this was five years before the birth in 1821 of Elizabeth Blackwell, the world's first female physician.
Funny when the Doctor made the anachronistic statement of the resumption of normal service.
The Doctor gave the definition of a zombie being a dead person walking.
This episode came on February 16 2020 and if it had come exactly a week later on February 23 it would have been on the same day of the start of the second half of season 10 of the zombie series The Walking Dead!
I had gotten a hint that this would be linked with the two-part Cybermen story that ends this season but it still took me by surprise when the Lone Cyberman turned up as I had no idea it would take centre stage here.
Big Finish had Mary Shelley (Julie Cox) meeting another Lone Cyberman the titular The Silver Turk.
Wonder if The Haunting of Villa Diodati can be reconcile with The Silver Turk.
There was literally writing on the wall and it was fun when Yaz pointed that out.
Was shocked when the Lone Cyberman did not speak in a mechanical voice but in a normal voice.
Intriguing how Percy Shelley came into this and how it relates to the Lone Cyberman.
Funny when the Doctor suggested to the Lone Cyberman that they split up for a search, in other words an opportunity for the Doctor to get away from him.
This has been a haunting (pun intended) episode and good, the somewhat temporary solution the Doctor came up with the Lone Cyberman with it being step 1.
Now for step 2 which is to fix up the mess with step 1.
Very good episode and the reading by Lord Byron certainly reflects on what the Doctor is about to face.