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You look/sound like someone who could enjoy serial person of interest l. Maybe you know it. If not, it's about AI, safety vs privacy and safety vs freedom in something like detective story. Basically (information from first episode) after attack on twins tower in New York, government wanted system to find terorist and one rich and secretive man built them Machine that (using information from internet etc.) can predict crimes that will happen. Twist is, that it can predict all types of crimes, not just ones will massive consequences, but even 'normal' murder. There exists two lists, one for important cases and one for everyone else, that is erased every midnight. Creator of Machine didn't trust government and built Machine that way, it couldn't be used wrong way. And leaves back door that gives him access to list of unimportant cases. He doesn't know what or why will crime happen, just who will be part of it. Big theme of show is, that they don't know if person of interest is victim or criminal. Show later evolve more into very interesting direction and I think, you will love their work with music. Best I ever seen(heard). It is easily one of best show I ever watched, maybe best (yeah, I count Doctor Who). It's underrated show that came too soon and predicted future. It is one of most realistic sci-fi I ever seen( well, maybe some endurance of characters...) that work with everyday lives of people amazingly well. Want to say more, but not spoiler, so If you didn't know it, try it. If you know, I hope you like it like me.
Also RIP Bernard Cribbins. I am heartbroken at his passing. Wilf is such a pure and joyous characters and Bernard deffo left his mark on the Whoniverse in his own special way. He will ALWAYS be remembered
The ending fate of the side antagonist of the episode always stuck with me, mainly for how absolutely dark it is. Imagine being a child suddenly waking up in the body of an old woman, no idea where your parents or family are, military surrounding you and potentially arresting you for the death of millions, no idea you were puppeted by a greater threat...god damn Moffat.
Moffat really sold how evil the Great Intelligence is. My problem is that the entity is above motives as petty as revenge because it sees itself as too intelligent and powerful to get involved in something so childish. It's not a sign that the Intelligence has a sense of nobility, it conveys that the creature is simply too arrogant to see revenge as worth its time. It's clear that Moffat brought it back to reference Patrick Troughton's era and celebrate that Doctor Who had been around for 50 years at this point without fully understanding the Intelligence's personality.
I think the purple jacket added a much needed maturity for the character Matt was trying to portray. So much happened in the Doctors personal timeline, being chased by much more dangerous people than he had been in the past. The man started a literal war because they used his best friend against him and the only significant casualties/deaths were the monks. Then he didnt die when he was supposed to and became the catalyst for a whole new reality. Then he did 'die'. Then he deleted his existence, and lost his best friends forever. All of this after having to reboot the entire universe. I think thats enough character development to warrant a maturity upgrade in style. Its like going from your teenage style to your adult style. It presents his growth.
I wonder what this episode would have been like if Victorian Clara was the companion with this being her first trip in the TARDIS. Also interesting that this is (I think) the first modern episode to bring in the "time vortex face" in the title sequence.
That would've been really cool, especially with the wifi element. God I wish Clara and Eleven's dynamic was that she was from the past. Though I really like Clara and Twelve's relationship so I'm fine with her being modern day since she does eventually get good
I know this is an unpopular opinion but I love the Smith and Clara Era. It has some really strong episodes and their dynamic together is fresh and bouncy and breathes new life into the show and brings a new energy. This is a really interesting concept that is handled well and it's a solid enjoyable episode. Compact and neat and nicely balanced. Not outstanding in the grand scheme of things but perfectly serviceable. I am gonna give my own personal rankings out of 10 now and for me it's a nice solid 8.
I wish Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman had done a full season together. They should have either done all of Season 7 or Matt should have stayed for Season 8.
@@umadbroimatroll7918 Clara carried Season 8 on her shoulders. Capaldi would have crashed and burned without her. The man is by far the most overrated actor who has ever played the Doctor. If he hadn't gotten his shit together in Season 9, I wouldn't even acknowledge him as a legitimate incarnation. At best, I'd acknowledge him as the Valeyard because it's the perfect time in the Doctor's life for him to manifest. Thanks to John Hurt being the 9th Doctor, using Capaldi as the Valeyard fits with the Master's assertion that he manifested "somewhere between your 12th and final incarnation". However, since that wasn't part of the story, seeing the Valeyard instead of the Doctor means that Peter Capaldi simply fucked up his performance. If Moffat had cast John Hurt in Seasons 8 and 9 instead of Day of the Doctor, I'd be calling them two of the greatest seasons in Doctor Who history. Give Hurt those scripts and he would have handled them like the Doctor, not the Valeyard. Peter Capaldi could have handled Day of the Doctor but Seasons 8 and 9, especially 8, succeeded DESPITE Capaldi, not because of him. By the time I saw the Doctor in him, I was 21 episodes into his run. The Zygon Inversion anti-war speech was brilliant but that should be the norm for any actor worth his salt, not one of the exceptions.
The reason Jenna Coleman's performances get better with time is because she has insane attention to detail. I didn't even notice that swinging around the pillar moment but every tiny movement, expression or change in her voice conveys something even if you don't notice it. I thought she was exceptional even when I first saw her in Asylum of the Daleks - Oswin carried that entire episode, rendering Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill forgettable and even overshadowing Matt Smith at times - but a large part of that was because I had (and still have) a massive crush on her. However, even after AOTD, she got me so invested in Clara that she made me interested in studying acting, not so that I can do it myself - I hate being in front of a camera and I don't have the presence to do stage work either - but so that I can admire the technique. Jenna's like Laurence Olivier with a dash of Marlon Brando in female form because she clearly thinks her characters through as carefully as Olivier whilst also having the emotional range of Brando, even though she doesn't seem to use his method acting technique. The fact that she could separate Oswin, Clara Oswin and Clara just enough to make each of them distinct without overdoing it to the point that it disconnects people from believing that they're technically the same person is a balancing act that very few performers could pull off. Aside from maybe Michelle Pfeiffer, who has consistently maintained that she had no acting training and has therefore had to rely purely on raw talent throughout her 44 year long career, I'd argue that Jenna's the greatest actress alive, rivalling or perhaps even surpassing legends who have decades more experience such as Meryl Streep or Judi Dench. Another thing I admire about her is that she doesn't lunge towards the A list roles in the hopes of becoming a massive star as quickly as she can. She just does her own thing because it's clear that she loves figuring out how different people operate and wants to try as many roles as possible.
I honestly don’t think this episode was trying to say “wifi bad” and “phone bad,” I think it was more of what you said, it being a twist on a super common thing. If it were the case, then I guess TVs bad, Statues are bad, and Anti-Smog Car devices bad.
@@therealeikichionizuka for me it was the vashta nerada because of one single line Daleks. Aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans. Back of the neck. Vashta Nerada. Run. Just run.
@@cyberfox7249 And then the audios ruined them by having someone engineer a giant Vashta Nerada, possibly one of the silliest ideas I ever heard 😂. On the topic of the anti-smog car devices, though, I always found The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky to have a kind of confused message. It's clearly a heavy handed environmental one, given the discussion between Rattigan and the Doctor in pt1 and the literal choking of the population from car fumes, to people going "I'm walking, won't catch me in a car!" at the end. So why make the weapon courtesy of an anti-smog device? A device that surely is beneficial for the environment?
18:00 this goes back as far as the 60s, in "The Dominators" the doctor delivers the famous line "But Jamie, It's a brilliant idea, it's so simple only you could've thought of it!"
“The Bells of St. John” was my first Dr. Who episode, and I loved it-it was why I started watching Dr. Who. Even I (as a non-Who-er) immediately understood the significance of the title, as the TARDIS door had a logo for the St. John Ambulance Service. I enjoyed Clara’s banter with The Doctor about finding the Cloud people, and Jenna Coleman said her ability to keep up with Matt Smith was one of the reasons she was selected as the Companion. I just re-watched this episode and I still love it.
This is definitely a storytelling idea that Inside No. 9 could do extremely well but for the most part this one feels way to rushed, the notable downsides of NuWho’s short runtime. I always forget that The Great Intelligence are behind this plot until you see Richard E Grant at the very end, it's a shame Moffat didn't explore their influence on the world further.
The scene where the Doctor admits that Clara reminds him of someone, followed by her insistence to only travel with him as herself and not a stand-in for someone else, is definitely one that still hits. Not only does it give the Doctor a needed and proper transition from the past he shared with Victorian Clara to his present connection with Modern Clara, but it also serves as a great hint to the eventual role reversal of how Clara will react when Capaldi first appears down the line. 😉🟦
While the St John is a reference to the St John's sticker on the Tardis, it's also about the Doctor himself, who often goes by "John Smith". What happens to Miss Kizlet at the end is similar to what the 2nd Doctor said would happen in Web of Fear, reverting to a child.
Clara’s leitmotif is my favorite of the series. I remember this theory from series 7B that anything that tried to mess with Clara’s mind had it backfire because there was something special about her. She was so mysterious! And yeah, Wi-Fi is dangerous, people can steal your whole life through it. Prescient? Who nose 👃
It is so brilliant how well this episode holds up even today- it could have so easily been "Old man yells Wifi bad for 40 minutes" but here, it's done so brilliantly, and so terrifying in a way only Moffat could.
The main tenant of The Doctor and Clara’s relationship through Smith and Capaldi is she’s becoming like him and that’s shown really well here at the start. Like she says in Flatline, rule one of being The Doctor is use your enemies power against them.
The purple jacket gives the Eleventh Doctor more of a Willy Wonka look, and one could see a character comparison with the Johnny Depp iteration of the chocolatier as both have backstory trauma they prefer not to think about while having eccentric personalities that don’t quite get people.
Always really enjoyed this one I liked the plot and felt like a good pilot. Trouble was it was our third introduction to an iteration of clara in a year, which made everything feel less important
God I feel old. I shuddered when you said the episode was nearly 10 years old. I was on iplayer and saw Sherlock in the archive section. In my head it’s only came out 5 years ago not 12
I feel like the title “the bells of St.John” is more like the cloister bells although not known at the moment…..him answering the phone is the whole tipping point of not just the episode, but his whole timeline as well as Clara. I wonder if he hadn’t answered the phone, would the previous Clara’s not exist? Would the doctor immediately die? (Since Clara saved the doctor in “Asylum of the Daleks”, also it can be surmised that the doctor could’ve survived “The Snowmen” without Clara.
I really thought i didn't like season 7b, but i'm rewatching the show with a friend right now and after just having watched it i actually really really loved it.
Hey! Hopping aboard these reviews. Have wanted to for a while but I wanted to start from the beginning and haven't had a chance, so I just watched the season wrap-ups and am officially watching as they get released. Very excited for your thoughts on Series 8 and 9, my favourites
I mean it’s a good first episode to 7b. Not the biggest standout but certainly a good time. Matt Smith driving up the skyscraper tho, THATS what gives this episode a B ranking to me XD
I don't think the message was "wifi bad", and in fact the real message is very important even today (although back then it was a more serious threat). When you use a wifi network, all the data that goes back and forth gets through it. That means that someone who wants to steal information could just set up a free wifi network and just collect the data that people send and receive through it, which (especially back in 2013) can include usernames and passwords that can be either hijacked directly (if you used the unknown wifi to do your banking) or even if it's something harmless like the habbo hotel account could still be used to try and hack you elsewhere (do you honestly never use the same password twice?) or simply try to impersonate you and scam your friends and family for their money. So the message is "if you see free wifi and you don't know who set it up, it might want to steal your life and/or use your likeness to hurt the people you care about". A good message.
I agree as if it was "wifi bad" then the weeping angels are "statue bad' Vashta Nerada " shadow bad" Sontaran Stratagem/Poison sky "Zero emissions bad"
I'm confused why you skipped over the anti-grav scene altogether and barely talked about the doctors fake out with the spoon head... it's such a good scene (probably the most memorable of the episode) and I was waiting for you to talk about it :( I remember when I watched it for the first time I was in full shock from that tbf
That year I first noticed wifi symbols and screens proclaiming the presence of wifi in that area. It seemed like something new and futuristic, like something that would change how we used phones and laptops etc.
I never saw this as being about the dark side of the internet but rather internet safety in general. The alien Wi-Fi network being a warning about how connecting to unknown public networks can be unsafe, and the part with the employees social media profiles a warning to be careful what you post online.
Personally I find the Idiots Lantern alien far more frightening and uncanny valley than the ones here. I'd much rather be trapped in the single digital room than literally have no face.
Summer Falls was an actual tie in publication, not just an in-universe book with an obvious meta reference in how Clara briefly talks about it. It’s been years since I’ve read it so I can’t say if what she says is true.
I mean at the time from my memory Wi-Fi had been very well established with smart phones. Most people did not have phone plans which gave them loads of data, so often relied on public Wi-Fi, so the idea of public Wi-Fi being a threat is quite compelling. Because most people actually used it, unlike today which feels like it’s not often used outside of the home, as people have plenty of data for on the go use.
This is an episode I have a LOT of nostalgia for, Series 7 being the final series when I first watched the show. In retrospect I really don't like the season as a whole and have a lot of issues with Clara's character, but I like a lot about this episode and its pacing, helped by the fact that Clara has been in previous episodes
The episode once more shows the Great Intelligence’s aptitude to use connections and networks for its own use. It’s present in the Abominable Snowmen because one of the monks encountered it while astral projecting, giving it a connection to the Earthly plane. The Web of Fear it uses a transport network to send its Yeti around London. Even in Downtime it uses the University the possessed Victoria sets up to gain power.
As an ISP technician, I can truthfully say, even today, there are people in their 20's-30's who can't work computers for shit, so Clara starting out not even being able to connect to the Wifi would still be realistic now, 10 years later.
So, this was the first episode of Doctor Who I ever saw. I didn't know the show did cold opens. I absolutely loved everything about this story. However, when it ended, the person I watched it with informed me that Doctor Who as a whole isn't about people getting trapped in the wifi, but is instead about aliens, and I was so disappointed I gave up on the show... Until a few months later, when a different friend watched Amy's Choice while I was around, and that episode was so trippy and gave me so many nightmares I fell in love with the show. To this day, those two episodes (as well as silence in the library/forest of the dead) remain my favorites of the show.
My only problem with this episode is how Kislet doesn't even think to run away when the Doctor turns his head around! It's obviously unrealistic and makes the Doctor's defeat of her seem superficial.
And this is another example of why splitting series 7 didn't work. I think this story could've been decent but it gets bogged down in the impossible girl and the doctor being a monk stuff.
I love the series 7 look for 11. It makes him look older and considering,in-canon, this is the longest running regeneration, it seems fitting that 11 develops in his personality and habits
Ok no but this was one of the first episodes I remember watching live and understand (I had watched all of 11 live but I was very young, and I had watched the runs of 9 and 10) But the spoon heads terrified me Absolutely terrified me and still does.
I feel like this episode wasn't saying "Wi-Fi is bad" but rather "Wi-Fi can be bad" It's a tool, one that isn't inherently good or bad. But like any tool, good people can use it to do great things, and bad people can use it for bad things, which is what's shown in this episode here
actually? I kind of like the title "the bells of saint john" specifically BECAUSE it doesn't tell you anything. And as soon as you realize it's a throwaway line for the cold open, it makes it abundantly clear you, like the doctor, have no idea what's going to happen next. But you're not going to stop. You're hooked the second you find out Clara is on the phone, and so is he. It just hits you out of the blue, like a random phone call to a number nobody should have. Like the answers you've been waiting for walked up in front of you and all you have to do now is explore them.
I love this story in a few ways. The concept is intriguing, the tone is pretty consistent, the stakes and setup are portrayed very convincingly. It's a bit sloppy in its overall execution but it gets equal parts wrong as right, but the bad stuff can be easy to overlook
This episode has aged terribly for the simple fact that no one would ever just try to log into a random wifi that just appeared on their computer in star wars text
I feel like reverse image search was genuinely better a decade ago than it is now. Now you'll get hundreds of unrelated pictures, but I had a lot more success using tineye in 2013
I liked Clara’s companion journey maybe the most, her introduction as Empathic Dalek was marvelous and made the Dalek imo even more terrifying as from that moment on, you never knew who is forced in there, are they all? Was is Timelords against Timeslaves in the war? ‚I don’t know who I am‘ is still haunting me. Reminds me of all the people who since 2020 went down the redpill-Q-AlphaSigma-Souvereign rabbit hole too far and can’t find their way out anymore. The multiple successful Reddit-manhunts (cabin-lady, cat-killer etc.) show how topical this episode really is. I think Clara was paired with the wrong doctor, they weren’t a very good fit, he was too childish for the teacher, for her to not upstage him and steal the spotlight.
This episode opened my eyes in a very specific way. About the use of technology and the illusion of security. We think with all our technological advancements that we might be more secure than ever. Surveillance and observation everywhere. But the shocking truth is, we are not. It's quite the opposite. In times without surveillance everywhere and anytime, we knew where the bad guys were lurking: In the shadows. Now, there aren't any. Crime, mistrust and evil intentions are hiding in plain sight. You might think, with things like social media, dating apps, gaming communities and much more, humanity is more connected than ever. But the depressing reality is, we live in a society of solitary confinement.
I disagree that this is like Black Mirror. It's not satirizing anything, really. Moffat is using Wi-Fi as a buzzword, he doesn't really have anything to say about the way we misuse it, or how we're villifying it too much.
The fact that Clara is bad with technology reminds me that my friend who is 21 didn't/doesn't know how to use the copy and paste shortcuts on the keyboard.
Honestly, I thought this episode was meh when I watched it and that probably influenced my dislike of Clara. The new outfit is much better in retrospect, though.
Honestly this episode for me is great and definitely A tier but it is a precursor to how these tropes in these episodes would be pushed to the extreme later on with Clara
I watched this one again this year and found it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. That being said, I think my entire opinion was purely because I for some reason absolutely irrationally hate the title of the episode. But for that reason I do remember the title.
I think the story is good, but I think Steven Moffat got the idea of this story from the Doctor Who spin-off Downtime, because in that story we are dealing with the internet and in this story the same thing.
