Doctor Who (40) 14:02: Devil's Chord.

[nixie]

Better, a lost music note is found allowing The Maestro, offspring of the toymaker to appear and all future music is dull and boring. I liked this one, I do think it will take me awhile to get used to The Doctor, he doesn't have a hangover from the reincarnation and he does explain things to Ruby.

 

[Pyan]

I just hope that his 'thing' isn't going to be afraid. Both episodes so far have had him being literally scared - and that's something, generally speaking, that the Doctor is not.

Wasn't "The One Who Waits" mentioned by the Toymaker as well? Do I detect a whiff of a Bad Wolf?

 

[reiver33]

As opposed to the crack in the wall as a recurring theme, is it now snow?

 

[Dave]

This one was better; the story should have been the opener. If some viewers have really never seen Doctor Who before then they might have turned off during that first episode. This was faster paced and the story made (some) sense. I'm not sure about some of the characterisations given some are still living.

I did find it a little camp, in that it reminded me strongly of the Adam West Batman. Is this deliberate? I'm not sure how well it would go down with others, but I'd watch a new over-the-top villain of the week taken from the Toymaker's "toybox". It seems more appropriate to have foe who are otherworldly since the Daleks and Cybermen and such, have been defeated so many times that they are no longer terrifying. Is that why the Doctor says he is "afraid"?

Speaking of Batman, the number of gadgets carried by the Doctor are growing, so he will also be needing a belt soon to keep them on. He hasn't really got a costume yet though, he has already had several changes of clothes.

 

[Karapace]

I just hope that his 'thing' isn't going to be afraid. Both episodes so far have had him being literally scared - and that's something, generally speaking, that the Doctor is not.

Wasn't "The One Who Waits" mentioned by the Toymaker as well? Do I detect a whiff of a Bad Wolf?

I'm getting whiffs of Bad Wolf too.
I don't think the scared thing is an issue though. Bogeyman designed to be scared, which the Doctor finds weird. Maestro scary because dangerous. I am thinking along the lines of the Spiders of Metebelis three and the Doctor was scared in Dalek.
I like the new Doctor and I like the chemistry between him and Ruby but please, please in the name of all that's holy, if they are going to do musical at least write decent songs. Not the "bad" songs of the Beatles and Cilla but the bad songs of the Goblins and There's always a twist. Buffy did it better, hell even Star Trek did it better

 

[Matteo]

OK...so better but not great. A bit darker - Maestro was ruthless. And it just stayed the right side of the fun/silly line - I do hope later episodes are going to be further away from that line.

Immediately thought the Maestro was someone else entirely - was it a deliberate misdirection? - but soon realised it was someone/thing else entirely. I agree that it's good (if it's going to be a thing) that new, powerful, extra-universal(?) foes are going to appear - but perhaps slightly toned down.

Not sure the plot made that much sense; in 1963 there has been no real music for forty years but the instant Maestro is defeated, it suddenly appears. Was there a retroactive effect? I did buy the nuclear holocaust - though the wife didn't.

The song at the end was dreadful.

And The One Who Waits? Interesting.

 

[The Ace]

Did they HAVE to save Cilla Black?

 

[reiver33]

But if what the Maestro pulled off in 1963 resulted in the end of the world, why didn’t the ‘63 version of The Doctor do anything about it? Just saying...

 

[Dave]

Or, McCoy's Doctor and Ace when they were stopping Dalek factions battling for the Hand of Omega at the very same time. But there were other plot holes too. I know a long time has passed for him, but he wistfully seemed not to know where Susan was, but could he really have forgotten that he left her on Earth in 2150, locking the doors of the TARDIS to prevent her from getting back in?

 

[Matteo]

A case of RTD knowing enough about Who to write in a line about the Doctor being there at the same time, but not enough to know Susan's fate. It was poor.

Also not sure about the Doctor crossing his own timeline. But I think that rule has been broken more than once.

 

[Ursa major]

I just hope that his 'thing' isn't going to be afraid.

Perhaps he's afraid because, as the Doctor mentioned (and with a callout to the McCartney** song, Yesterday), he is half the man he used to be (and not just because he and Tennant's Doctor are simultaneously... er... present), and so is, at least in this respect, lacks all the bravery he usually displays.


** - I expect the concept of having two "half" doctors and the idea of an episode containing The Beatles, may have been dreamt up (almost) simultaneously based on that implied pun.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I thought I'd found an 'Easter egg' in there - I thought that chord that Lennon and McCartney played was the same as the one at the end of A Day in the Life off Sgt Pepper's

But no, not according to this article...

'The Devil's Chord' on 'Doctor Who': Your questions answered

The Beatles, Cilla Black, and a major deep cut!

mashable.com

"
You might sense a reference to the end of the Beatles' most highly regarded song, "A Day in the Life," from the end of their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. However, that famous chord — played on four pianos at once, with microphones moving in to catch the echoes so the fade-out seems to last forever — was an E major, a powerful chord often used in rock tunes.

Best we can tell, thanks to sound-detecting AI apps, is that Doctor Who uses a C major in that scene.
"

 

[BT Jones]

I think we all have to accept that this season is going to be complete bats#%t! crazy all the way along, with lots of broken 4th walls. This was definitely a better episode, and had some nice touches (including the awesome sonic silencing effect), but it was still superficial in my book - if felt like Glee, or something; this week, we're doing The Beatles / 1963, giving it lip service, and then moving onto something else.

Did anyone else think this episode might have been better served as being no. 8 or 10, with some hints and build up about the end of music dropped all the way through (ala the movie Yesterday). In the end, it felt like a promising villain and an apocalyptical premise rushed headlong into to soon; The Doctor can't face this threat; can't beat it; it's luck. But in the end, he does it quite easily, whilst also playing the piano like a maestro.

For me, it's just being camp for camp's sake. The best Doctor Who stories were always the darkest, most mysterious, most ingenious (Blink, Listen, Heaven Sent). At the very least, they took their time, used the slow build approach, and were heavy in atmosphere and setting the scene. These episodes just seem so impatient to get to every plot point or twist, and then on to the next. As long as everything is brash, loud, and colourful, the hope is that no one notices the seams. It's still a notch up on Jodie's last 2 seasons, but I fear this may be a superficial happy meal of a season with few genuine highlights to revisit in the future.

 

[Matteo]

The best Doctor Who stories were always the darkest, most mysterious, most ingenious (Blink, Listen, Heaven Sent). At the very least, they took their time, used the slow build approach, and were heavy in atmosphere and setting the scene.

Absolutely!

These episodes just seem so impatient to get to every plot point or twist, and then on to the next. As long as everything is brash, loud, and colourful, the hope is that no one notices the seams. It's still a notch up on Jodie's last 2 seasons...

Also agree - though, in fairness to Jodie, I prefer to say "Chibnell".

 

[BT Jones]

Absolutely!

Also agree - though, in fairness to Jodie, I prefer to say "Chibnell".

Yes, @Matteo, you are quite right to say "Chibnall's" last two seasons, as the quality of the show was nowhere near a reflection on Jodie's excellence as an actress.