He Who Moans Review of Doctor Who: The Doctor Falls 

The Master was necessary because of how deceptive Missy is. The only way they could truly confirm her redemption and thus make it meaningful in any shape or form was to have her past literally catch up to her and spell it out.

The Master plays an essential role in this story. The entire inner conflict of missy's character hinges on The Master. He's the tempting force standing in opposition. I can't think of a better way of representing missy's conflict wanting to go back to her old ways than literally having her past self convincing her to come along with him.

Bill fought the Cybermen's programming because she spent months fighting against the Monk's memory shit earlier in the season. It's not because she's special...

Cyber Bill: Thaaaaat is not meeee! My favourite scene in the episode, the way it was shot was just chilling

TBH I liked the fact that Bill and Heather got to live together, since the characters were named after Bill Hartnell (1st Doctor) and his wife Heather, and that made me feel all soppy

The John Simm Master in my opinion is in this story for thematic reasons more so than plot reason, that theme being change and resisting it, or as Bill put it "If I can't be me I'd rather die". Bill having changed into a Cyberman is fighting against this new reality, trying to stay the person she was and when it becomes apparent she can't she goes to war hoping to die fighting the things she has become. The Doctor is also trying to stay the person he is by literally refusing to regenerate for no other reason than he doesn't want to be someone else anymore to the point he lets himself die. And for The Missy-Master, by coming face to face with her younger self Missy realizes she has changed and is no longer this evil man but is in fact good, illustrated by the polar opposite reactions Missy and the Master have to the Doctors "Who I am is where I stand" speech. And on the Masters side he also see the change in Missy and horrified at what hes going to become, he kills himself (by shooting Missy) rather than let this change happen fitting into the theme of resisting change and "If I can't be me I'd rather die".

Pretty much agree with everything on how it's a pretty good story, but Bill being able to become human whenever she wants instead of having to accept her new existence completely guts the drama of what she'd been through. The Doctor being able to hold off his regeneration didn't bother me, but the fact that he wants to does. In the Christmas special they need to verbalise why he's so against it, because unlike the Tenth Doctor, this indigence and rejection has been completely untelegraphed. It already feels wrong for the first Doctor to be mad about regenerating too. I worry it's gonna be another repeat of Deep Breath, where it's just a heavy-handed meta-textual guilt-trip for the viewers to accept the new Doctor (which is already a crumby premise IMO), where said meta-text is at the expense consistent characterisation. Like, it made next to no sense for Clara to be so upset about the Doctor changing, and so far, the same can be said for Twelve not wanting to regenerate. However, I would disagree heavily on Simm's Master being pointless. This is arguably the real arc of the series. The Doctor trying to save the soul of his friend and change her for the better. If he can save someone as far gone as the Master, he can save almost anyone. Simm's Master is the literal manifestation of Missy's past and the temptation of reverting to her old ways. And the tragedy of how it wraps up; Her finally coming around, only to be cut down in that instance by her past self, The Doctor never knowingshe truly was ready and capable of change, and Simm rather murdering himself than accepting this future (what he similarly did in The Last of the Timelords). It's a fitting, tragic and ironic end for the character. Stabbing himself in her back. At least I thought so.

I thought this was John Simm's very best appearance as the Master. His character was toned down from the overly manic portrayal we'd seen in his previous two appearances. Also...he has eyeliner. ;)

I never realized how disliked John Simm's master was under RTD until this finale. I always thought his portrayal was well written and amazingly well acted.

I like how i basicly casued the 12th doctor to fall over a few times.

It would've been fine if showrunners just let companions die! As the War Master says, "Death is natural". Speaking of which, are you going to get the announced Big Finish story about Derek Jacobi's Master in the Time War? I can't stop listening to the trailer for it.

my favorite nu who departure is Donna. It's not way too emotional, like bloody rose's departure, and isn't undermined in any way by fully bringing her back, unlike rose's departure, and is not a happy ending, unlike rose's eventual departure. God i hate rose's departure.

The whole Cyber Bill plotline was a great metaphor of gender dysphoria/body dysmorphia. As someone who suffers from the former, I thought it was really well done and a realistic representation of how it's like to have those conditions. But of course, as it always is with such things, most viewers seemed to miss it..

"The Doctor arrives on a frozen planet." If that scene is supposed to be set during the end of the Tenth Planet then they're on Earth in the South Pole.

Wouldn't it have been great if Heather came back, Bill was still a Cyberman, and died after a few words from her. That would've been emotional, and most importantly, it means the doctor can go back to the TARDIS, WITHOUT BILL COMING BACK FROM THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Steven Moffat had gone on record to say that he will never kill off a companion and if he was in charge of Classic Who back in the day then he would've resurrected Adric. Yeah... can you see why we all hate him?

The Master segments do at least fit into one of the themes of the story. Of having characters that would rather die than live on as something/someone else.

Bill wasn't dead. She never died. She got rearranged out of the armour, but she never died.

Dude, You always identify and organize all those problems that I have with episodes but can't seem to point out. You are great.

As I've said multiple times, I know exactly what Simm's point was in this story. "Problem, officer?"

Every time I watch this episode I cry non-stop for the last 20 minutes

If I had written the episode, I would have had Bill succumb to the cyber conversion, slowly losing her humanity to the point where she tells the Doctor to kill her while she is still human. Ultimately, the Doctor does this causing him to go on a suicide run to kill all the Cybermen out of grief, rejecting his inevitable regeneration due to having failed to save his companion and wishing to die. Though this might be a bit of a motivational stretch, I feel it's much more compelling than the vague reasons for the Doctor rejecting his regeneration and Bill saved by deus ex machina water girlfriend.

More like The Deja Stus am I right? The story might not change that much if you swap out Simm Master but the character stuff with Missy would really lose a lot of the metaphorical meaning. As I said in the last part Simm is basically a representation of the worst traits of the Master and Missy killing him and her killing her is incredible telling. One thing I don't really get is why would CyberBill laster thing be activated by anger? Doesn't using anger to use your weapons kind of go against Cybermen philosophy? The Cybermen just when they had the hoods over there heads and walking like zombies was some creepy shit. Might be the scariest they've been for me, mainly cause they aren't an iconic design. Got to say I got kind of teary-eyed when Bill was on about how she didn't believe the Doctor was really dead. It got to me damn it. Plus who doesn't love a Logopolis (and I guess Caves of Androzani homage).

And now David Bradley is playing the first Doctor for Big Finish :) which he actually recorded before he was cast in the XMAS special lol

My prediction for Twice Upon a Time is that it takes place during 10th planet. The first Doctor is barely there throughout the whole story, maybe he was adventuring with the 12th Doctor.

God I wish I was the Master's beard

Ever think about going back and doing reviews of earlier episodes - maybe even the Classic series

I liked the episode. Bit dissapointed at the ending. Im suprised you didnt mention the master commiting murder on herself tho. Overall.second best moffet finalie but that aint saying much. (Does angels take manhattan count as a finalie?)

I won´t forget the first time, I saw those titles either!

I loved this one, to the point where I'd call it one of Moffat's best. I don't see any of the problems of Hell Bent or Death in Heaven except for maybe Bill's ending which was still good and better than Clara's. It's a fantastic character piece with brilliant dialogue and performances throughout, and the Cybermen kick ass.

One of the reasons Bill could hold back the programming, was because of her mental fortress during Lie of the Land. It was only a throw away line, but it was mice that it was referenced

man your xmas fanfic sounds way better than what we got.

11:39 Whilst it may be cheesy that the Pilot can turn Bill back into human, it is a necessary line, because turning her into Water Bill against her will would have been a terrible thing to do. The option of Bill turning back into human reinforces her love for the Pilot lady rather than Pilot lady forcing the choice onto her. I brainstormed some ideas for the Pilot lady resurrecting Bill and the line used was the only non creepy way to solve the Cyber Bill Problem. I think the main problem comes from Hell Bent and how Moffat undermining the Companions death in the season finale made Bills resurrection less tolerable. If Clara had permanently died in Face the Raven, then The Doctor Falls Ending would have been much better recieved GODDAMMIT HELL BENT YOU KEEP FUCKING UP LATER DOCTOR WHO EPISODES

The saddest part of this review is that --- we have to wait months for the next one. Thanks for your humor, snark, and especially thanks for caring.

I wish that we had seen more Classic Who variants of the Cybermen. Especially seeing as the original Mondasian Cybermen aren't seen as obsolete in universe in comparison to the New Who design for some reason. (Even though some would have needed to have further upgraded themselves).

Now that the series is over , could you review doctor who fan films or Classic doctor who ?

Love these titles stuart, you shoulda kept them

Feels like stu is actually starting to like Doctor Who again.

I'm assuming the whole time being paused thing is why the regeneration stopped. No other reason.

12:22 Not only did I have a feeling you were going to hate that line, I also heard it and had the exact same problem. "it's just atoms" made it feel less like Bill had to face consequences for what happened (even if those consequences weren't the worst) and more like someone gave this one girl access to real-life console commands.

On the turning the Regeneration on and off, and the fake out the Tenth did, just remember... Romana. We share a lot of feelings on the Christmas specials, and like you I'm actually really excited for Twice Upon a Time. Granted, that's mostly because of David Bradley as the First Doctor (which I've been waiting for). Speaking of, before the Christmas special, do you think you could do a review of An Adventure in Space in Time?

Excellent video, also mostly enjoyed the episode myself and pumped for the Xmas special first one really looking forward to in many a year. Will you be reviewing The Prisoner Vol 2 from Big Finish ?

In my Headcannon Bill and Heather are dead, that water form is just like the glass figures in Twice Upon a Time. May look act behave and have their memories but ultimately it isn't them anymore this is how I get round the whole "I can make you human again Bill" because I don't like the Cyberman conversion being taken back and just being fluff.

Moffat trademarks 1)Title to bate fans 2)More time passing to make the story grander/don't need to set up stuff 3)Why do we need Missy ? 4)More epic speeches because people like them 5)Opening very removed from cliffhanger 6)Children 7)Sassy woman who says sexual things 8)Retread of past ideas 9)Fanwank 10)Companion dies but doesn't 11)Lines about how women are better than men to please tumblr 12)Two big iconic villains which don't do anything 13)Fake out ending

Best Finale of NewWho since Pandorica Opens/Big Bang and Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways

Please review Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams

Two issue 1)how come the only difference between humans and time lords is two hearts, no other differences? Not like there are diffrent types of blood... Diffrent DNA... Etc 2) how come when Peter Capaldi refuses to change it slows down the regeneration instead of just killing him like it did the master?

Hey, present Stu, if you're reading this, is this still your favorite companion departure in NuWho? Because I feel like Donna's departure fits more what you wanted, with it having lasting effects, and being a very tragic ending, but at the same time, shows Donna moving on.

So...do you plan on making any more videos about the audio dramas? Please?

Are you going to review season 4 of Bojack Horseman Stu?

I agree with most of this; particularly the resolution to Bill's story arc. Although I think that Simm's Master was woefully under utilised (a shame, as his portrayal of the character this time around was excellent, imo), he was clearly there to serve as a foil to Missy & the scene where they killed each other was a poetic inevitability which worked really well. Something of a tangent, but I did find the whole concept of Missy's redemption awkward - & not only because it was never explored with the kind of depth which would have given it the emotional heft that Moffat was aiming for. I just find it hard to accept that keeping someone in a vault for decades with only yourself & your 'inspirational' philosophising for company is truly redemptive. It's more like projecting your own ideals onto them & fashioning them into the character you desire them to be rather than facilitating any kind of personal epiphany . I don't think it's altruistic on the Doctor's part at all. I think that, rather, it demonstrates his profound need for the friendship of an equal to assuage his loneliness. It's something that 10 wanted in LotTL, & the Master refused to regenerate rather than be held captive in this manner (his horror at the prospect is palpable). No wonder he's so exercised by the situation in TDF. Because it's fundamentally a denial of his own identity. And as far as the narrative goes, he's absolutely right. Part of the reason that his dynamic with the Doctor is so compelling is that whilst there are hints that he could potentially be redeemed, there are also hints that the Doctor could be corrupted, & this tension is interesting. Once the Master is actually redeemed, this is lost & so is their character as such. I can see what Moffat was trying to do, but imho he has taken the character down an unnecessary creative cul-de-sac. If they do feature in future episodes, either we know that they will ultimately side with the Doctor & all their actions will be coloured by this knowledge, or there will be a retcon of some sort that reinstates them as an antagonist, which undermines the whole redemptive arc as played out in this series. Thanks, Moff.

I love Happy Stuart!

I like how the image of the bald doctor doing the 'evil villain' think next to the converted people in your drawings had the same eyes as the people with dark eyes in your 8th Doctor series. It may be a coincidence as the master in that audio series did eye surgery and the Doctor in your drawing has the same dark eyes. Did I over think this?

I didn't really care about Bill being turned into a Cybermen, I think Bonnie Langford is a better companion than she ever was. Plus the Cybermen should have evolved into 80's Cybermen with the moonboots before turning into the Iron man Cybermen.

Heather annoyed me to no end. They share a few scenes in one episode at the other end of the season, and it's treated like a serious relationship. Yes, I know The Pilot takes place over a couple of months, but if we never see the relationship develop and progress, why should we care? Especially as she's never mentioned once as a love interest in episodes 2-11.

Can we have the Doctor pitted up against Krampus?

I was really expecting this episode to be a let-down as the second part of a Steven Moffat two parter usually is despite him being a very talented writer. This is a case where a pessimistic attitude proved me wrong as it turned out to be one of the best episodes Steven Moffat has ever written.

The shitty Rick Sanchez ripoff yelling no during regeneration looks similar to Darth Vader yelling no at the end of Stars Wars episode 3.

I actually found Bill's ending to be WAY WAY better than Clara's. You seriously had to expect Bill to be back in the Xmas special. That's a given. I'd be really pissed if Clara showed up.

Bill IS in the Christmas special. She was in the *official* trailer for it, which came out about a week after the finale...

Hey Stu, I was wondering if you're watching electric dreams on channel 4. I thought that the impossible planet was an absolutely amazing story, but no-one else seems to be watching it.

I think they gave Bill the chance to become human again, so that she can really chose the life with Heather instead of it and and not being forced into it.

Cybermen Story I've Been Waiting Since Age Of Steel

This is in my top 5 favorite dr who episodes including big finish. This story is gorgeous its a wrok of goddam art.

I predict that in the Christmas special 12 and 1 are gonna team up to save galafray as they did in the 50th anniversary special. It would be a nice full cycle kina thing i feel

It makes sense the doctor would fall- he is over 900 years old

They can still end up as the Midnight Entity!! Maybe they do get corropted still, maybe by the sun of Midnight itself or they just completely get lost in space over such a long time and forget what human life means so that they come back in Midnight to learn again. Keeps me excited to think that some of this can still theoretically happen! Maybe the christmas special will fuck this all up.....

Unfortunately I was left completely cold with the finally it was almost Hell Bent allover again the jarring tonal shifts through me out of episode.

i think the masters presence was necessary here because its the window into missy's past and her inner conflict

I agree about the ending. If that one line had been excluded, this would have been one of my favorite companion departures in New Who ever. I mean, it's still not bad, but that one line is just so frustrating. Actually, we've had this problem before with Hell Bent. If they'd just let Clara return to Gallifrey to meet her fate rather than imply, "oh, hey, let's explore time and space again!" I reckon it would have been received much better. And the same goes for Osgood. If they'd just left us with one Osgood throughout the Zygon two-parter and left it to us to determine whether it was the Zygon or the original Osgood, it'd be fine. I do prefer Moffat over RTD, but he has a horrible habit of dismantling the emotional impact of his stories at the last possible moment.

"Oh, I wonder if there's anything new on YouT-- KILL ME NOW."

Great review. I agree that it was nowhere near as good as "World Enough and Time" and would ultimately call it a beautiful mess. Beautiful in the sense that there were some fantastic moments throughout the episode (Double Master Death, Bill's initial reveal, Nardol's final words to the Doctor, and the Doctor's speech to the Masters to name a few) but ultimately a messy episode if you take a closer look at it. Small stuff out of the way first, I still don't understand Missy as a character. That's not really this episode's fault seeing as it came the closest to giving her an actual character but in the end she reverts to her nature which was clever. Secondly, the Nardol subplot was pointless and could've been dropped for additional time to focus on other aspects. So now we have the two big problems with the episode, the Doctor trying to save everyone and Bill trying to retain her humanity. While a little unfocused, it's pretty good up until the end. Beginning with the Doctor's motivations for not wanting to regenerate, not only is it vague and stupid, it's been done already to polarizing views. Secondly, the deus ex machina ending. This is the point where it becomes Hell Bent 2.0 (an episode that I personally feel was given to much unjustified hate) as it repeats the trope of the companion being saved by an outside force and allowed to journey through time and space for eternity. The fact that they did this once is baffling but to do it twice is just infuriating. Ultimately, the episode should have had Bill slowly succumb to the cyber conversion until she pleads with the Doctor to kill her while she's still human. Only then does the Doctor go on a suicide run due to the sudden grief of having failed one of his companions and is rejecting his eminate regeneration because of the pain he feels to the point where he wants to die. The episode would have been so much stronger had they done this and it would've made a much more interesting set up for the Christmas special

So i just realise something are the toclafane actually spherical cybermen?

Don't know if you've seen this one before, but there is a fan theory floating about - i.e. unlikely to ever be canon - that suggests the "Masters" we see on the show are not in the right order. It lifts from the "River Song/Doctor living in wrong-order" idea of Moffat's. It suggests that Simms' Master doesn't regenerate into Gomez's Missy. It suggests that when we last saw Simms' Master in this Episode, he was dressed and styled similarly to how we first see Delgado's Master all the way back in "Terror of the Autons", so could Simms regenerate into Delgado after being shot? We also don't know (unless I missed it) that the Deadly Assassin Master is a failed regen of Delgado's and have only assumed it because the order they appeared in. If the order isn't fixed then it allows it to be Missy's. Some we know (Deadly Assassin=>Ainley=>Movie (probably) and Jacobi=>Simms), but the rest are up for grabs. [Unless some Big Finish book that I missed has already killed the idea, of course.]

My points on this episode are pretty much in line with this video. Except now I really want Twice Upon a Time written by Stuart Hardy

something i want to know is, why did it take 2 months to post the review (still love your content)

If they wanted to do the upgrading themselves below deck thing they shouldv’e used all of the cyber man the og mondasion, the moon base, and the 70s/80s Cyberman, then the two mondern

well i cant wait for the next christmas special last christmas i mean last christmas i mean ughrrrrrrrr foget it

Best finale since Journey's End. Admittedly, that's damning with faint praise, but this was fairly fun.

To your credit: A PUDDLE made a relevant appearance!!

You know, the more that I look at how the Doctor Falls ended, with Bradley walking to Capaldi, the more that I've been confused with just how chummy Bradley's Doctor appears with Capaldi's Doctor. It's almost as if he was expecting him to appear there, almost eager for him to appear there, where as I would've expected more of the Troughton v Pertwee or Tennant v Smith initial interaction (What are you doing here?). Bradley's Doctor would've easily seen the TARDIS behind Capaldi's Doctor when he approached so there can't be any doubt that he knows who he is coming up towards. I don't know.. I feel like it wasn't down all that well.

The story is about transformation. The Doctor, Bill and the Master. Simm is there to remind us how different Missy is from Simmy. This sets up the Doctor being resentful of his coming change. If the master can change maybe the Doctor will change into something worse. The master makes sense.

Saved by a puddle of space oil.

Wow how shit did you feel on getting to the Christmas Special

This last season is really good. Proves that Clara was the problem in the previous series. And that she, in my opinion, stayed for one season too long. Also, you reference "Listen" and the opening moments of "Name of the Doctor", and just like the end of "The Doctor Falls", these are all moments featuring the First Doctor.

What pisses me off is that they threw the Surgeon out the window. Never heard of again, he was practically the Mondasian Lumic!

Why didn't Bill recognise the new Cyberman from the events of Dark Water and Death in Heaven?

How about that David Bradley Big Finish announcement, eh?

The first 10 minutes of the previous episode had me begging for a Missy spin off series where she is just the anti-Doctor. She turns up and instead up saving the day, she fucks things up, in her perfectly portrayed madness only she can pull off. So I was gutted when Moffat not only killed off Missy but had to throw in that stupid line from Simm, saying that there were no more regenerations because the magic wand was on full power. I also loved her sonic umbrella - just FAB!

I know one thing that's going to happen with 12 regeneration story. It will create another dumb debate on weather if it's a heartwarming farewell or if it's an irritating self indulgent wank just like The end of time and The time of the Doctor.

Oh shit that was quick

My only flaw with this story, is the ending. I think if instead of it ending with the TARDIS landing, and just keep whether or not the Doctor is truly dead or not a mystery. But this ending is good. Now if they could bring back David Bradley back as the first Doctor, and actually not be written as a sexist because 60s stereotypes, would be really great. Hopefully for the 60th anniversary

Re: Masters The point about this fitting somewhere else is well made, but I wonder whether this whole thing didn't arise from the shooting-in-the-back idea then get used here as part of a Gomez leaving/Chibnall coming/clear the decks/keep the contract paperwork simple combination. It might be better elsewhere, but may only have been practical here. Re: Heather. I'm inclined to read Bill's tears throughout this and the previous as coming from Heather rather than Bill, and thus to read the survival of Bill's personality as due in part to her being sort of insulated by Heather. For me, this makes Heather's appearance at the end a little more organic and while the she's-gone-but-she's-back element is a bit annoying, I've liked Bill enough that I don't really mind.

So no words about writers taking as you said "cowards way out" on the whole "Doctor is captured and Master is in control of the cybermen?" Also Cyberman's origin as a backdrop to the story again. We basically got nothing about the lower decks. Spare Parts this is not Also didn't they implied part of the Water Lady was in Bill and protected her from becoming full one Cyberman? Magical Tear and all. But still nice video, waited really long for it and it was worth it.

I've known of your channel for a while now (a year maybe?) and have seen a fair number of your videos including your reviews of the latest series. Honestly, I've avoided subscribing on account of disagreeing with some of the strong cynicism but damn it, now reaching the end of a series of reviews, I can't help it... I.. must.. subscribe. [Conversion complete] Why do you have to make these so entertaining?! Wouldn't it be quite the interesting twist if the title really was a "hidden in plain sight" hint at the Doctor's cause of regeneration. Despite what I just said about cynicism, I think you're being far too generous to Bill's exit. It's completely nonsensical and undermines the Cybermen and emotional weight of the entire story, not to mention the Pilot being totally different conceptually to its earlier appearance. Before, it was smart space engine oil that took the form of Heather but consequently had her dying thought imprinted on it. This episode though acts as if it's literally Heather who has simply taken the form of a now-basically-god liquid. What would have worked is if Bill sacrificed herself in that final fight (not just disappearing and turning up as a lone survivor afterwards) and when both she and the Doctor are lying dead (or "dead" in the Doctor's case) on the ground, the Pilot turns up and moves the Doctor's body to the TARDIS for his story to continue and I'm not sure exactly what but something with Bill that doesn't involve reviving her. That would have retained a sense of consequence (which I can't believe I have to say is an underrated concept) and had a little bit of an uplifting feel. OR the Doctor could have not been moved at all and that whole ending with him for no apparent reason being against regenerating could be swapped out for something that is warranted by the character.

I felt like it was a massive fuck you from Moffat to those or us who loved the 1960s ones. I felt like World Enough and Time had a massive build up to it that just got forgotten about straight away in the second part. Also, since when did the Mondasian cybermen get lasers?

Got to say, I find it endlessly amusing that a 12 year old show is repeatedly described as "new."

Wow, it seems like your faith in Doctor Who might be restored. I mostly agree with you on this. At first I hated The Doctor Falls fresh after watching it. Then I after thinking about it for a bit, I realised it wasn't that bad. It was ok and only half as disappointing as you'd expect. I didn't really like Bill's departure. Mainly because I believe if you're gonna make a devastatingly life-changing dramatic turn of events for a character, you stick to it rather going for a soppy deu ex machina. Plus, this ending pretty much contradicts how Heather was portrayed back in The Pilot. You know how joining Heather was portrayed as a bad thing, but now it's suddenly awesome? Still, it was a way better departure for a character than Clara's. While both of the Masters were good together, they didn't really do anything for the story other than conclude Missy's story which has been scarcely developed over the course of the series. Putting all that aside. I'll take this. If this was Moffat's very last episode (which it was originally intended), then I think he would have ended on a decent note.

Your version of the Christmas special would have been better.

I'm the Wallace *waves at the comments* :D