Mummy on the Orient Express

"Start the clock..."

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic  Such a simple idea to have the countdown shown on the screen, it could've been naff but worked and added tension to the ep.

Aboard the Orient Express Mrs. Pitt & her granddaughter are having dinner when the elderly lady spies...

...a mummy! 

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker actually quite a creepy mummy for Saturday teatime. I'd imagine some kids were quite scared.

Probably why it actually went out at 8.35pm on first (UK) broadcast! That's a late teatime!

It's a mummy that only she can see...

...and which kills her with its touch!

"I need a Doctor!"

Chris@KosmicKris the best opening of a Nu Who episode - brilliantly done!

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic Cue the fantastic Series 8 titles!

The Doctor & Clara arrive together - a bit unexpected after the bollocking she gave him last time out.

While they're at least on speaking terms Clara has decided she doesn't hate the Doctor but this is a "last hurrah".

This Orient Express is a space train, winding through the galaxy...

Chris@KosmicKris this is just a fabulous visual image - this ep has a real Hinchcliffe and Holmes feel to it!

Has to be said the costume design in this story is gorgeous. Capaldi's Hartnell riff & Coleman's flapper dress.

Everything aboard is in a mock 1920s style...

...including Foxes' cover of the Queen song Don't Stop Me Now.

The onboard computer, GUS, welcomes everyone aboard.

Clara tells the Doctor that "hatred is too strong an emotion to waste on someone that you don't like," to explain how she came to terms with the events of Kill the Moon.

Maisie seems disturbed, and calls the Doctor a liar...

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker he's a Doctor of intestinal parasites! Mystery solved!

What a funny coincidence that for a "random" trip the Doctor's brought her to a space train with a killer mummy!

The Doctor talks to himself...

...while Clara phones Danny, promising there's no danger and that she'll dump the Doctor.

Capaldi's Tom Baker impression is spookily uncanny. Brilliant touch.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker I think this is where Capaldi fully established himself as The Doctor for me. I did like him from the start, but I think this is where it kind of 'cemented' for me.

The Doctor, nosey parker, meets Perkins, shifty chief Engineer.

Resident AI "GUS" denies Clara and Maisie access to the mummy's tomb... er, carriage.

The Doctor interrogates an Egyptologist for the legend of the Foretold - the Mummy that kills in 66 seconds.

Love the jelly babies in the cigar case. Brilliant touch.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker loved that moment!

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic I read that Capaldi brought the cigar case in with him with the jelly babies in it!

Chris@KosmicKris this was full of lovely, delicate touches that reminded me how much the people who make the show genuinely love it.

Darth Marenghi@DarthMarenghi With his "Greg House as the Doctor" approach Jamie Mathieson is the one writer who *really* gets Capaldi this series. As a side note, when Mathieson explained his House comparison at Gallifrey One the audience laughed. Americans, eh? :p

In the kitchens, the Foretold wants a word with the Chef... obviously wasn't a fan of the menu. 

As to 12's apparent coldness, check 4 roll away Lawrence Scarman's dead body... 

John Mark Frankland@JMFrankland FOUR MEN SARAH. He knows about the poacher too, without even seeing or speaking to him. Cold?

Simon Pittman@LibraryPlayer They never really resolved who GUS was - was Missy behind the whole thing? Or is GUS still out there somewhere?

I'm pretty sure that Missy was behind GUS. Although I like to imagine a John Sessions Master between Simm & Gomez!

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker LOL! Interesting choice!

Well, only cos that's who does GUS's voice i.e. GUS=the Master. But more likely just a voice programmed by Missy.

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker I didn't realise he had voiced GUS actually. I'm rubbish!

Simon Pittman@LibraryPlayer Perhaps GUS was Gallifreyan User System - the standard OS for evil Time Lord computers? :P

I like it! Of course, "GUS" could just be short for "SarcophaGUS".

"I'm not a passenger. I'm your worst nightmare."
"A mystery shopper. Oh, great." 

The Doctor hasn't got time for Captain Quell's denial, and challenges him to stand up and be counted.

Far more cold than most of the more obvious signs i.e. the apparent lack of sympathy for his PTSD.

The mysterious Perkins is on the case. "Yes, sir. I'm obviously the mummy. Or perhaps I was already looking into this." 

Clara and Maisie have a heart to heart whilst locked in the carriage, and put the boot into the Bechdel test while they're at it. "We're stuck in this carriage, probably all night, and all we can talk about is some man?" We see what you did there.

Reviewing the security footage of Mrs. Pitt's death, Perkins notes that it's 66 seconds from the flickering of the lights to the old woman's lights out. 

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic Clara had a picture of a stick insect as the picture for the Doctor on her phone!

The "stupid sonic screwdriver" isn't working, so Clara's trapped as the sarcophagus opens to reveal...

...nothing! 

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic If this was Classic Who, the Doctor would be arrested 25 minutes, in Nu-Who, he's arrested for almost a minute!

But the Foretold is on the loose elsewhere!

Chris@KosmicKris  one of the problems with "NuWho" is the length doesn't allow the stories to breathe - this story, however, is perfect for 45m.

Once the Doctor rumbles that the assembled eggheads have been brought together deliberately, the facade drops...

...and they see that they're really in a hi-tech lab.

The Doctor takes charge...

Chris@KosmicKris this is the Doctor being very Doctor-y. And further evidence of how utterly stunning Capaldi is in the role!

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker I think special mention should go to Frank Skinner as well - works far better in this than I was expecting.

Definitely; an off-kilter performance finely judged to make him the plucky ally you can't *quite* trust...

Tim@parks8472 Frank Skinner was what worried me the most about this ep going in (not a fan of his) but I thought he was ideal

Chris@KosmicKris totally agree - this was no JNT stunt casting, Skinner was really good!

Of course, the Doctor's not really in charge, as "GUS" reveals itself & blackmails them into doing its research...

When the Foretold targets Professor Moorhouse...

...the Doctor hopes to gain valuable insight...

...but the Professor wastes his 66 seconds trying to bargain for his life.

Clara's incarceration has proven rather more useful. She's discovered that the Orient Express is just the latest in a long line of failed attempts to discover the secret of the Foretold.

When the Doctor won't hang up on Clara, GUS ejects some kitchen staff out into space.

Darth Marenghi@DarthMarenghi This was BRUTAL. And very old-school Who.

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic A chilling sequence, when you realise the Doctor inadvertently got them killed is quite brutal.

A connection is made... the Foretold targets the weakest, the closest to death.

And that puts Quell in the frame next.

"Start the clock!"

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic  The mummy passing right through the Doctor is very creepy.

Quell is able to give the Doctor some useful scraps of info before he meets his end.

"A man just died in front of us. Can we not just have a moment?"
"No, no, no, we can't do that... People with guns to their heads, they cannot mourn!"

Perkins is rattled by the Doctor's seeming indifference. 
"You know, Doctor, I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant." 
"Well, on a good day, I'm both."

Clara agrees to lie to Maisie...

...and the Doctor finally admits that he knew he was being lured here.

"GUS" has been trying to lure the Doctor for quite some time: "He has tried to entice me here before. Free tickets, mysterious summons, he even phoned the TARDIS number."

Maisie sees the Foretold...

...the Doctor fools it into coming for him instead.

Chris@KosmicKris again, a wonderfully Doctor-y moment! Despite the rhetoric of not caring, a very human act of self sacrifice.

He cares about everyone at once, and can't or won't break that down to an individual level as it would impede him; hence "cold".

"I'm the Doctor and I will be your victim this evening. Are you my mummy?"

The Doctor's brain races to make the connections. 

It's a soldier...

...the scroll is a flag...

...the war is over...

"We surrender!"

For the Foretold, the war is finally over.

The downside is that now GUS has the technology that animated the corpse of the Foretold and equipped it with cloaking and teleportation technology it doesn't need any of the scientists.

As GUS pumps out the air, the Doctor works frantically to save everyone.

But GUS has a more explosive conclusion in mind.

Darth Marenghi@DarthMarenghi  The beach scene is Capaldi at his most Hartnellian. Wonderful. :)

Capaldi's subtle Cushing homage is a very obscure 'Easter Egg'!

"No, I just saved you and I let everyone else suffocate. Ha, ha, ha..."

"So you were pretending to be heartless."
"Would you like to think that about me?"

"Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones - but you still have to choose."

No, Perkins, go with him!

Clara realizes she's addicted to Doctor Who!

Now she's lying to the Doctor, telling him that Danny's fine with them travelling together.

"I've had a wobble. It's a big wobble, but it's fine. Forget about it. Now, shut up and give me some planets!"

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

11thDoctorAdventures@11thDoctorComic I love this ending scene, so jolly!

Chris@KosmicKris a wonderful ending to a marvellous episode - that is pretty much a template for how to do Nu Who

Darth Marenghi@DarthMarenghi My final comment on this episode: Best story of Series Eight and an absolute 5 star classic.

Totally agree :-)

Mark Walker@Mark_Walker possibly the best episode of series 8.

Chris@KosmicKris this, for me, was the absolute high point of s8! A magnificent story! Really enjoyed Clara in this one - not so much moaning at the Doctor

Simon Pittman@LibraryPlayer Great episode - but kind of wish they just let 11, Amy & Rory have this one after series 5 as an offscreen/unseen adventure!

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... The Curse of Peladon