The Greatest Doctor Who Ghost Story 

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I think the biggest issue with a lot of moffat-era stories was how rushed they were. This episode just goes to show how much can be accomplished with two-parters. RTD seasons were chalk full of them!

The Capaldi era is FULL of underrated gems. Mummy and Flatline, while well loved, almost never come up in casual "best episode" conversations. Time Heist is SO underrated no one ever talks about it. This is another brilliant example, along with Series 10s Oxygen and Extremis. There's so much to love in this era and it unfairly catches a lot of flack for poor writing. I won't deny there IS poor writing, but people blow it up to ridiculous proportion.

I’ll never stop praising Capaldi but his performance is yet again top notch in this two parter

This is one of my favourite two parters of all time

The guitar addition to the theme in the opening titles has been my mobile phone wake up alarm since this episode aired. I always believed the Twelfth Doctor was like a University lecturer from the Listen and Before the Flood opening monologues, and we all know what happened in Series 10 by how he met Bill Potts. Not to mention, I have always thought of the Twelfth Doctor's outfits varying between University lecturer and student.

I absolutely adore episodes where the show really toys with time travel concepts, like this one, Father's Day, and Turn Left. It's surprisingly rare for a show that features time travel so heavily! I love this two parter so much. It's just plain good! It really utilizes the two-parter format in a great way. Great companion episode set to the Impossible Planet, I'm glad you drew all those parallels. Ugh this season is just so good (it's controversial??? How?????)

The thing about the bootstrap paradox is, in the closed loop model of time travel, there is no “original” version of events because there’s only one timeline. That’s why it’s so confusing!

I feel the Bootstrap paradox explanation cold open gives hints at the kindnof next step for this Doctor when he becuase essentially a professor at a University. The way Capaldi delivers that scene is like he is chaotically delivering a lecture to a bunch of students. Because on that series we have a few scenes set at the University where the Doctor is delivering his lectures to the students and we see the style he delivers them and it is very similar to this cold open scene so I like that this is seeded here because then it doesn't feel weird that the Doctor suddenly became a University lecturer in the next series. Like yeah he kind of was one already.

Every time I get a hankering to watch DH. it's always this two parter I go to. it's one of my favorite New who stories

Cass feeling the floor is cool but if she suspected there was someone behind her enough to touch the floor, she could've just turned around and LOOKED in a fraction of the time lol

I honestly love Capaldi as the doctor, no one can change my mind

23:53 Quite prophetic considering that Twelve actually dies while Bill is the companion.

I've recently started thinking that maybe Season 9 of NuWho Doctor Who is my favourite series so far.

Best Capaldi quote, the one i use constantly : "this Regeneration, it'S a bit of a Clerical error anyways!"

This two parter confirmed, yet again, that Clara and the Doctor both know their feelings for each other, but they don't want to talk about them directly. Clara tells that Doctor that if he loves her, he will come back for her, and he makes a promise that he will. Unlike with Danny, there's no need to keep saying "I love you" or any outward displays of affection. They live abnormal lives and understand each other on such a deep level that they don't need to talk about it.

I rewatched this recently and its crazy how well it holds up imo

It is still astonishing to me how they didn’t choose Toby Whithouse for his ok to solid banger episodes like this and they chose Chris Chibnall for his ok to really bad episodes like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

I would like to throw into the room, that Clara's obsession with adventure maybe wasn't put into overdrive because she has nothing left after Danny, but because she had out it before Danny because it was an obsession already then, and it cost her his life and their future together; now the adventure and risk has to mean so much more, to validate the loss, to validate itself and her previous decisions and herself. It's like she reaffirming to herself, that this is it, this is everything, all that matters. It's (clearly depicted as) an addiction, so it has its own rational, but a sort of a sunk cost fallacy, like the person who lost their house bit keeps going back to gambling, just instead of hoping for a million dollars, in Clara's case, it's to make her own life mean something (possibly a bit of survivor's guilt in there as well after Danny's death), something more (to justify her loss of him) - so she needs to take risks, pretend to be a hero (as she perceives the Doctor to be) and keep going and going and risk more... And whenever she comes out alive, it both serves as a feeling of immortality as well as a new starting point, she needs to risk more to validate the previous risks taken... and her own life. Everything Danny was against? She's now seeking it out like a bloodhound. No more balance, no more safety net. He died for it. She needs to prove to herself that the crazy and life threatening adventures mean something - no, mean *everything* . It's not rational, but she was addicted long before! If anything, the mortal connection (the balance, the love in the "real" world) was what got her hurt. But in this state of mind, it is all about justifying the addiction, putting it on the highest pedestal (become what she perceives the Doctor to be). Danny was the price she paid, so she now has to even more make the most of it, right? ...right?! (Again, addiction is very subjective and warped in its rationality.) Tl;dr: I think Danny's death did not leave her with nothing else, but made her need to prove the adventure is all the more important (in her already addicted mind).

I still find it baffling that they didn't keep Peter Capaldi's guitar version of theme after this two parter. It's such a vast improvement on the actual Series 8-10 theme that if I had been Moffat, I would have insisted that Capaldi's take became the new official one beyond this two parter.

Ah...Beauty, thy name is Doctor Who Series 9 starring Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman (being reviewed by Harbo Wholmes)...!

I wouldn't call Under the Lake/Before the Flood a classic, but I think it's a really solid 8.5/10 story, and it's a great "anytime" episode that you can throw on whenever and just have an enjoyable 90 min. It's also a great introductory episode for DW newbies, a good episode to sell the show to someone unfamiliar with it.

I remember how I was once explaining this paradox same way on school trip! I use 12 Doctor explanation and everyone were interested.

this two-parter is one of my favourite sets of new who episodes of all time...and one of my favourite parts in particular is the clara and doctor character development in the story, showing their growing codependency and how the doctor will break all of his own rules for clara (scolding bennett for wanting to save o'donell even though he just admitted that he is 'changing history to save clara'), and also developing clara's selfish streak more. like "not with me! die with whoever comes after me, you do not leave ME!" is one of my FAVOURITE clara moments because it's such a uniquely twisted thing to say in her desperation. she's one of the few companions to acknowledge that there will be others after her, and it's not something that bothers her, even though it's bothered pretty much every other companion. she knows their time together is short, but she demands all the time she can get. what she's telling him here isn't that he isn't allowed to die, but that he isn't allowed to hurt HER by dying before her. "you do not leave me" is just....it's such a great moment for clarifying her characterization and the bizarre, toxic elements of their mutually obsessive relationship

16:49 It's like with Toph from Avatar. She is blind but still can see through her feed.

This episode manages to show so many different sides of 12 so naturally, Whithouse really gets Capaldi's character.

I rewatched these episodes just a few weeks ago, and it's a relief that you couldn't find faults in them either. Some of my favourites usually have a section of where it all falls apart a bit, and it can be difficult to admit those faults for me. But this really is a great two parter, and I'll never not enjoy Capaldi with a guitar even if it's just a setup for a good payoff later on.

This is tied with Thin Ice as my #1 Twelfth Doctor story. It’s hard to decide between them because they have the polar opposite in turns of pro and con: Thin Ice has a rather weak villain, but a great scene between Bill and the Doctor where she asks if he’s ever killed. UTL/BTF however has phenomenal villains in the ghosts and the Fisher King, but an absolute cringe in Clara's "if you love me speech" takes me right out of the episode.

This and Happy Endings are probably my favorite bootstrap paradox stories for Doctor WHO. Excellent Cliffhanger!! For any who don't know, in the book Happy Endings the 7th Doctor takes the Isley Brothers to their own future to play at Bernice's wedding and they happen to find a recording of Summer Breeze, which they had not written yet, but now they know exactly how it is supposed to go so when they get back to their own time they immediately record it. But then who actually wrote it? The 7th Doctor says TIME wrote it, and he's purposefully personifying Time as an entity that you should avoid at all costs because a debt is due that must at some point be paid.

The greatest tragedy of series 9 is that we didn't get the rock opening as a permanent addition.

I’ve been waiting for this one! Series 9 is my favorite, but I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve rewatched this two-parter in particular

All the base under siege stories owes their success to the second doctor. This story in particular reminds me alot of that era.

I love that, despite his social awkwardness, 12 _tries_ to help his companions rather than putting them down or backing away from them like 13.

As a Whovian and a metalhead, those Corey Taylor fun facts are much appreciated

The side characters this episode reminded me of The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit Edit: I commented this before any of your parallels to those episodes

This story definitely lost me somewhere, but I’m glad it’s got a fandom because I could feel it’s more a me thing than the episodes themselves

Such an underrated Capaldi two parter

Wait a minute, doesn’t the bootstrap paradox just confirm the “Self-Sufficient” version of time travel? The one where the events were always there and you only experience them when you get to that point in time? Like for example the ghost of the doctor appeared because the doctor goes back and creates it, and since time was always that way, the ghost appeared even though it was the first time the doctor was experiencing that part. Right?

This episode is in my top 5 episodes of all time. The capaldi era has such underrated stories. Like oxygen this two parter and many more

Hands down my favourite of Series 9. Call me uncultured for not enjoying Heaven Sent as much as everyone else, but this speaks to my soul and is the only time I allow Clara to be cocky because she's quite relatable in this one.

i cant wait for you to finally reach series 10, my favourite.

14:47 Please tell us that pun was fully intended, Mr Wholmes!

Loved this story. The Fisher King reminded me of something Geiger would cook up.

this was one of the only episode that really creeped me out when i was a kid, that ghost cliff hanger made me not sleep that night 😂

Harbo’s are my favourite videos to listen to while going about my day. I love your channel! ❤️

I think it’s an interesting east egg where you can see the head of the Fisher King on the sea serpent mural in the base’s cafeteria.

There is now way the Fisher King was not inspired by the Skeksis

These 2 episodes scared me to shit when I first watched it, but I loved it! Glad to see I’m not alone with loving this two-parter.

This is one of my all time favourite Doctor who stories

I looked it up and found out that Big Finish did a story about the Minister of War based on this line. The problem? It's a Third Doctor and Jo story, even though the 12th Doctor didn't know what O'Donnell was talking about and expected it was in his future. Then again, in The Snowmen the 11th Doctor didn't seem to remember the Great Intelligence at first, an enemy he met in his second incarnation, and it has been maybe a couple thousand years since he would've experienced this Big Finish 3rd Doctor story, so maybe 12 just doesn't remember at the time. In that case, it's no longer a loose end that needs to be followed up on.

Loved this two parter, my only negative for it is O'Donnell's death, such a great character to die by stepping out with her back to where the creature was, wish they could just let her get caught while hiding instead of that strange choice

It has the sea bass feel like facing the Silurians and sea devils

Somehow, his uploads are exactly in sync with me watching the episodes for the first time

today I learnt the villain was called the Fisher King, I thought it was Fissure King 😅

I just assumed it would have died from the sheer volume of water ramming into him.

As much as you gush about this story, tbh I don't remember anything about it. As for the ghost stories, the other 2 mentioned I adore, Hide being spectacular giving me almost Classic Who vibes with the setting and date.

On second thought, it's honestly kind of hilarious that they used a random part of Britan to accurately portray the apocalyptic Soviet Union.

The hardest Who stories to write are the villainous plots that the Doctor would be genuinely impressed by. Toby Whithouse conjured up a timey wimey masterpiece here.

This story is my second favorite out of Series 9, and this is a good story for Halloween. I will say I do find the ghosts creepy with their black eyes. I love the setting of an underwater base and there is something scary about being underwater.

The writing in the eye also reminded me of the curse of Clyde Langer

I love Stargate Atlantis!@!!

Had no idea you were a Charlton Althetic fan. My condolences. 🙏

This 2-part episode is my favorite! Why? The person in charge is Deaf and the other characters do not condescend to her. DW writers need to learn a lesson from this and hire more Deaf actors. In addition, “Before the Flood” is the episode where the Doctor introduces the bootstrap paradox and Peter Capaldi accompanies the opening orchestral DW theme with his electric guitar. In my opinion, this version of the DW theme should have been used for the remainder of Capaldi’s time as the Doctor.

This story should have given the showrunner spot to Toby Whithouse. Not to Chris Chibnall.

Don’t know why people think ‘Fisher King’ denotes an aquatic species. When I think of a fisherman I don’t picture someone who can breathe underwater.

Nearly the best two-parter, second only to Human Nature!

Clara potentially sends people to their deaths to test a hypothesis. Which I thought was wrong. Is that sort of behavior wrong?

I disagree in terms of the cue cards. The doctor knows how to interact with people, he simply doesn’t care if they think he’s weird. Showing him have a lack of understanding after centuries of experience and socially fine regenerations is indeed a misinterpretation of the character. It’s in Jay Excis video, not entirely an original take

i'm so here for your osgood take.

Truly epic series and episodes. Love them .

Series 9 is my favorite NuWho Series, and it's because of this kind of storytelling. Chef's kiss.

Oh it's Fisher King? I always thought it was *Fissure* King.

13:08 I see you’ve conveniently forgotten that the nanogenes were the problem in the first place lol…

I honestly didn't remember that this one exist.

The fisher king reminds me of water hazard from Ben 10

ill say one reason its soo good is the doctor who rock intro

Loved the episode loved the video :) series 9 is probably my favourite. Up the addicts

I love this two parter so much also Star Trek Easter egg

This one absolutely terrified me

This episode holds the distinction of being the last released episode in the Doctor Who that I consider genuinely great. Very few good episodes after this either, but yeah, this is where I'd recommend anyone stopped watching the show.

God I'm looking forward to Heaven Sent review so much. Such a shame how bad Hell bent turned out to be

The first half was good, but I hated the second half. The first half reminded me of the game with the vashta nerada in the sea base.

One of the few Capaldi stories I like.

I recently watched this two-parter for the first time yesterday and I am confused. How did O'Donnel know about Harold Saxon? Wasn't the year that never was erased from everyone's memories?

Series 9 is my favourite and I will die on this hill. No matter how controversial this opinion is 😤

Didn't excpect to see a fellow Charlton fan when watching this video but I'm pleased anyway

Nice shirt, did you know ace is a Charlton fan

I love the “Minister of War” line so much, because I really get the feeling that some show-runner many years from now will be like “Oh, hey, what was that? Let’s put it in!”

whithouse's previous story wasn't the god complex it was a town called mercy

This two parter was good, if remember correctly it came after Master and Daleks episode. I saying ep 3/4.

Not to mention caring for the characters. I was gutted for o'donnal

this story is sooo good

I love the doctors version of Beethoven's fifth

It’s a good two parter, but nothing tops Aliens Of London/World War 3

I think this story is alright (probably a little above average) but I feel like it gets strangely over-praised by certain fans (particularly by people who don't like the Clara era) and it ending up in the Top 10 Capaldi stories in the recent Doctor Who magazine poll was surprising. Definitely pretty cool visually and generally decent but there's definitely a bunch of little things that bring it down for me and I definitely preferred the S9 opener to this one.

Get in new Harbo video

i adore the characters and the nonlinearity of this plot, as well as the reminder of the race that enjoy being persecuted!

Great vid

stargate mentioned!!!!!!!!

How dare you talk smack about Petronella Osgood?