Dr. Who Reaction Series 8 Episode 8 - Mummy on the Orient Express
Added 2023-12-09 15:00:02 +0000 UTC
Comments
Nothing to do with the Whoniverse, but if you like unexpected covers like the one Foxes sang, you might like the PostmodernJukebox channel on YouTube. I saw them live in concert once, and an American singer did *the* most amazing rendition of "Creep" by Radiohead.
Andrew Gwilliam
2023-12-14 14:21:34 +0000 UTCI will try and remember the video that you and the other Andrew want me to watch. I really hope I wont forget because I really wanna watch it :) Oh, I really thought the white backround was a secret hint to the promissed land. Cause we had the same white backround in other episodes as well. Like the office in the bank heist episode for example. I really thought I had figured something out. Well....I guess not. Well the spiders of the moon episodes scared me more than the mummy to be honest :D :D
Nicologik
2023-12-14 13:23:23 +0000 UTC"Are you my mummy?", The Doctor, "Mummy on the Orient Express" I liked it when the Doctor offered jelly babies from a cigarette case - you have to be stylish on the Orient Express (even if it is in space). And the joke when the psychic paper reports that the Doctor is a mystery shopper is fun - it never seems to just do the right thing any more and get in without unnecessary explanation. The jazz version of "Don't Stop Me Now" was very cool - it's not on the soundtrack album though, presumably due to licensing. I was also going to recommend the Series 8 music video that Andrew linked - with the same spoiler warnings. It would be a nice thing to watch after you finish the series. BTW: the train was just flying through space the whole time - the interior changed to the lab because the whole thing was a setup by "Gus" to analyze the Foretold Mummy. There was no Promised Land stuff happening here. The 66-second real-time monologue from the Doctor when facing the Foretold is a great sequence, wonderfully acted by Peter Capaldi. I also like Perkins, the odd chief engineer. Frank Skinner, who played him as mentioned above is a big Doctor Who fan - and we've actually seen him before - he was one of the "Dalek Operators" in "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot" (because he is a big Doctor Who fan). There was a concern that the Mummy might frighten children but, hey, it's Doctor Who. The episode was scheduled to be broadcast quite late too. I do like this episode. "You know, Doctor, I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant.", "Well, on a good day, I'm both", Perkins and the Doctor, "Mummy on the Orient Express"
Andrew Vignaux
2023-12-13 23:33:00 +0000 UTCThank you for explaining :) I´m glad that you start to like the doctor now. Still early enoguh for you to enjoy a lot of episodes with him I guess. At least I really hope he wont leave us at the end of the series already. Fingers crossed :) Haha I didn´t even notice that countdown thing. :D Thank you for telling me, it´s kinda funny :D
Nicologik
2023-12-12 09:14:00 +0000 UTCI found SeeJays explanation very helpful as well, and I´m glad it changed your perception of the whole episode for the better :) Thank you for the link, I wont watch it until I finished Series 8 :)
Nicologik
2023-12-12 09:11:31 +0000 UTCThank you for explaining the Clara situation. It´s a slightly different one than SeeJays, but both of them make perfect sense :) I love how you always help me out understanding this show, to proceed with a better understanding in the next episode :) I think Clara does love the doctor, but in a different way. It´s more like a family member love I guess. Haha that´s a funny story :D I would have wanted to say yes to travelling with the doctor as well. 100% relatable :D
Nicologik
2023-12-12 09:09:53 +0000 UTCI liked the episode so much as well. And I understand why people would think Claras behaviour is very inconsistent. I personally don´t think that but I can see how you would come to that conclusion.
Nicologik
2023-12-12 09:05:38 +0000 UTCOh thank you sooo much for mentioning all those references. Now that I read them it clicked instantly :D While watching I didn´t notice though, so thank you very much :) Also thank you so much for explaining the Clara situation. It makes so much more sense now :)
Nicologik
2023-12-12 09:03:46 +0000 UTCAfter watching Kill the moon when it was originally shown I really didn’t know what to expect. It was good to see that Clara and the doctor had connected again. Although a few weeks had gone by for them. Clara really can’t give the doctor up it has become her addiction, and she is lying once again to them both. The doctor was really thrilled that she was staying, and I think he still cares about her deeply. I enjoyed this episode very much, I have seen it several times recently. I always enjoy Perkins, played by Frank Skinner who as Stephen said is a huge fan of the show, I think the sadness on his face when he turns the doctor down is genuine. Great acting from Peter as always. Looking forward to next week. xx
Jenny Smyth
2023-12-10 19:38:34 +0000 UTCOk, to answer your question. Basically Clara is finding she can't give up travelling with the Doctor so she lies, both to Danny that she's taken her final trip and to the Doctor that Danny is fine with her continuing to travel with him. Ok so my thoughts on this episode. Yesss, this is where I finally start to get this Doctor. (after being so negative all series) I love how he is portrayed here (and it's with this in mind that I've been revaluating the earlier episodes and liking them more. Clara looks great in this one. My only issue is this again starts to make Clara unlikable as she ends up lying both to Danny and the Doctor. The mummy is creepy and even having the timer on screen works (got to say loved how you said at the start 'here comes the countdown' and one literally appears on screen) Anyway 5/5 for this and ranked 32nd/140.
Jade Ellis
2023-12-10 00:35:03 +0000 UTCAfter reading SeeJay's explanation about Clara lying at the end of this episode, I should give it another rewatch, because for me that's previously brought the episode down. If it hadn't been included then I'd unquestionably rate this a 4.5 out of 5. Leaving aside that final scene, this was perhaps the first episode this series where I felt the Doctor, Clara, and their relationship, were all handled in a good way; and this was in the context of a story that was itself interesting and was executed well on screen. "Don't Stop Me Now" was sung by Foxes, and there's a video with the full song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-OTYT02W7E. However, you shouldn't watch this until Series 8 is over, as the video includes spoilers for episodes you haven't watched yet.
Andrew Gwilliam
2023-12-09 23:02:18 +0000 UTCI think the point when Clara at least starts to change her mind is when she and the Doctor have their conversation on that beach on the planet they escape to. Of course later on in the Tardis her questions and the Doctor's answers about addiction and trying to give things up seem to solidify her decision to continue travelling with him. When Danny phones she has a bit of a dilemma and lies to both him and the Doctor because she can't give up either of them. Some people hold that against her but to me it's a sign that she feels caught in a situation that she can't solve. Where there (in the Doctor's words) are no good choices but she just can't bear to choose one anyway. Because whatever she does she will lose something (or someone) important to her. Others have commented that during that phone conversation Clara says "I love you" to Danny but is looking right at the Doctor when she does so. Probably she loves both of them but in very different ways. I do agree about Peter Capaldi's acting and delivery. In a class of his own. I think he manages to make grumpy lines funny and funny lines grumpy a lot of the time. The man who plays Perkins, the train's engineer is Frank Skinner, a British comedian and a long time fan of the show. He said that having to say no to travelling in the Tardis with the Doctor was very hard. He kept wanting to change the line to "yes". Great episode.
Stephen Males
2023-12-09 21:19:10 +0000 UTCYou may have succeeded in explaining the ending to me for the first time!
Andrew Gwilliam
2023-12-09 19:24:46 +0000 UTCI thoroughly enjoy this episode. The Doctor is at his most Doctorish (as you state, he does the right thing even though he doesn't show the same empathy as his immediate predecessors - which does indeed make him more interesting). Clara is an oddly written character at times. Her personality (and, it appears to me, her character background) feels inconsistent; and seems to change depending upon whatever the writer/show runner wants her to be for a particular story None of this takes away from this strong, entertaining episode.
Ian Smith
2023-12-09 17:49:48 +0000 UTCI finally caught up! I really like this episode. A few call backs; the candy he was handing out are Jelly Babies which is a reference to the 4th Doctor who always offered Jelly Babies to people. "Are you my mummy?" calling back to season 1 Empty Child (and the season 4 Sontaran Strategem), and when the Doctor tells Clara that Gus has tried to lure him there before, that's a call back to the Season 5 finale, after Amy and Rory's wedding when they are in the Tardis, the phone rings and the Doctor says "there's a mummy loose, on the orient express, in space!" My take on Clara changing her mind, she asks the Doctor if these adventures are like an addiction. He says you can't tell if it's an addiction until you try to give it up. I think in that moment Clara is realizing she enjoys the danger and the adventure too much. She realizes she wants to stay, but if she does stay (after saying she'll give it up) she's admitting that she has an addiction. So when Danny calls, she lies and says that it was Danny who wanted her to give it up, and now he says it's ok. She's making the excuses so she doesn't have to admit that she can't give it up.
SeeJay
2023-12-09 17:29:12 +0000 UTC
