It's that time of the year again when the house is filled with the pitter-patter of comic book-inspired television. Already I'm being kept up at night by superhero programming crying out to be burped and changed and streamed.

It's been tricky keeping up with comic book television over the past couple weeks and with upcoming premieres, so we're undergoing a little bit of a change of how we cover these shows. Welcome to the first installment of a new weekly column rounding up spoiler-free reviews of each week's comic book television, replacing our full-length reviews. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the premiere installment is arriving on a Monday, but future round-ups will be arriving every Friday here on Hello, Robots!

Gotham

Gotham was lucky enough to be the first, last, and only comic book-inspired TV programme to be treated to a full-length review before we retired the format, for its season two premiere, 'Damned If You Do'. Episode two is titled 'Knock, Knock'.

The Maniax! I love me a team-up, especially a supervillain team-up. This episode we see the Maniax working together (mostly) to cause trouble for Gotham, and so I thought this would be a good opportunity to run through its members: Jerome Valeska is obviously our Joker analogue, and Cameron Monaghan delivers a fantastic performance as the would-be clown prince of crime that shines much as Robin Lord Taylor's season one performance as The Penguin did. Barbara Kean is Jim Gordon's old flame, based on the comic book character of the same name who is mother to Barbara Gordon Jr (a.k.a. Batgirl) and James Gordon Jr (they're not very creative with names) and never became criminally insane, to my knowledge. Aaron Helzinger is based on Batman bad guy Amygdala, whose removed amygdala grants him super strength and super rage. Robert Greenwood and Arnold Dobkins round out our five, but neither are based on existing DC characters. The team itself is also an original creation, as is the team's benefactor Theo Galavan, although some reckon his true identity is yet to be revealed (myself included). His sister is loosely based on supervillain Tigress, whilst the would-be sixth member of the Maniax seen last episode was Richard Sionis, based on Black Mask, a.k.a. Roman Sionis.

I feel warmer about this episode than I did the last - the scenes with the Maniax were pretty exciting and Jerome in particular is a delight to watch. I continue to find Jim Gordon's and Bruce Wayne's scenes the least interesting, however, but I found the latter redeemed by the return of Lucius Fox and the exchange between Fox and Alfred. And after his limited appearance in the season premiere, it was surprising not to see the Penguin in this episode, especially considering what a fan favourite of season one he was.

Rating: 7/10

'Knock, Knock' was broadcast in the US on Monday 28th September. Episode three, 'The Last Laugh', will be broadcast in the US on Monday 5th October. Season two of Gotham will not be arriving in the UK until 2016.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

And Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back! It's no secret that I am a HUGE Marvel fan, so it should come as no surprise that I love Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., even if it is a pain to type. It got off to a wobbly start in season one but quickly found its feet, and I'm pleased to report that the season three premiere 'Laws of Nature' has me really excited about the new season.

Three important new characters are introduced in this episode: the new inhuman Joey Gutierrez and ATCU Director Rosalind Price are both original creations as far as I can tell, but the inhuman bad guy is existing comic book character Lash. His general goals in the comic books have been to recruit strong new inhumans and wipe out those he feels don't deserve to have undergone terrigenesis (the thing that gives them powers). Lash's appearance is impressively spot-on for his comic book counterpart in this episode, and his powers seem roughly similar too - he can absorb and convert energy into different types of energy. Comic book writer Charles Soule described his powers thus: "Let's say someone's running at him — that's kinetic energy. Lash can change all of that into heat — and whoosh! — the other guy goes up in flames." Visually, Lash is a very strong villain, but he's not quite BIG bad material, so it's pretty likely that somebody else is pulling the strings.

Daisy (Daisy! Skye is officially now Daisy Johnson!) using her powers and really taking charge as a fully fledged agent was great. I'm not fully sold on Joey yet, but I am thrilled to see the introduction of a Latino AND gay character. Yay representation! ATCU gets set up as 'the new S.H.I.E.L.D.' and wisely decide not to feature any periods in their initialism name, and I really enjoyed Phil's altercation with ATCU's leader Rosalind. A lot is set up in this episode, but it never looses momentum and does a good job of keeping the action up throughout.

The standout action for me was with Fitz. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't afraid to blur the line between the smart/support characters and the action/physical characters, and whilst there's been similar moments for Fitz in the past two seasons, this is a standout moment of badass for the fan favourite. Which only serves to underline the heartbreak to come.

Rating: 8/10

'Laws of Nature' was broadcast in the US on Tuesday 29th September. Episode two, 'Purpose in the Machine', will be broadcast in the US on Tuesday 6th October. There is no UK air date yet for season three of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but it is expected to arrive this autumn.

Heroes Reborn

The premiere of Heroes Reborn with episodes one and two back-to-back unfortunately passed us by here at Hello Robots towers, partly due to the difficulty of keeping tabs on US air dates from here in the UK, but we're all caught up now and ready to bring you our thoughts.

If you're not familiar with Heroes, here's the rundown. First off, I love Heroes. Second off, Heroes is not based on a comic book. It does, however, draw heavily on comic book tropes, none more so than in season one which featured art by actual comic book artist Tim Sale. Season one was hugely celebrated. It was full of mystery and excitement and great visual effects depicting the really cool powers of the really interesting characters. Seasons two to four continued the story, but the storyline got increasingly complicated and retconned and the show got decreasingly interesting and exciting. We lost a lot of mystery and gained too many characters. This is generally universally acknowledged and I love Heroes in spite of much of the last couple of seasons. Don't get me wrong, there was still a bunch to like, but it certainly lost its magic.

Now, five years since Heroes ended, it's back with Heroes Reborn. It promised to bring back the mystery that everybody loved about season one, to take away the confusion and get back to great characters and cool powers. I was pretty excited, to say the least.

So did Heroes Reborn achieve it? Ehh, kind of.

The start is promising, but it's difficult to get away from the lore in a universe so steeped in it. Everytime an old character or story-thing appeared or was referenced - which was a lot more frequently than I expected - I was simultaneously excited to see something I recognised and jarred by their total lack of introduction. Wait a minute, where is that character? What was she doing? How did we leave him? These are synapses I haven't stretched for five years, and I actually find myself hoping this is only a problem for returning fans of the show and not new viewers. Heroes Reborn just struggles to get away from the confusion Heroes was rife with, and without a single compelling threat or mystery uniting the different storylines it's just difficult to get away with.

There are some fun moments; I like Tommy's teen romance storyline and I was pleased to see the grown-up Molly Walker to have undergone some real character changes since we last saw her. The depiction of the computer game environment in Miko's scenes is just plain embarassing, however.

Rating: 5/10

Episodes one and two, 'Brave New World' and 'Odessa', were broadcast in the US on Thursday 24th September. Episode three, 'Under the Mask', was broadcast in the US on Thursday 1st October. Episode four, 'The Needs of the Many', will be broadcast in the US on Thursday 8th October. Heroes Reborn has not yet been picked up for broadcast in UK.

Other News

Coming up this week is the return of three more comic book-inspired television programmes starting with the return of iZombie, the detective show/loose adaptation of the Vertigo comic book by the same name, entering its second season on Tuesday 6th. Unfortunately, iZombie's first season is yet to be picked up for broadcast in the UK, never mind its second season.

Also on Tuesday 6th, we have the US season two premiere of The Flash, followed by the US season four premiere of Arrow on Wednesday 7th. Both shows based on DC comics characters and set in the same universe will be broadcast in the UK the following week on Sky One.

Further off in the distance, Supergirl premieres in the US on 26th October but has yet to be picked up for broadcast in the UK. Marvel's Jessica Jones will be released on Netflix internationally on 20th November, but in the meantime two new teaser trailers were released last week:


Got any tips or recommendations of anymore television we should be watching? Let us know in the comments below, or let us know what you think of any of the TV programmes we discussed today.

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A new Doctor Who spin-off by the BBC has been announced. The spin-off will be aimed at teenagers and will be written by young adult fiction author Patrick Ness, pictured below.

The series, titled 'Class', will be set in a school in modern London but be filmed in and around Cardiff like Doctor Who itself. Class will consist of eight 45-minute episodes and will air on BBC Three in 2016.

I'm astounded and thrilled to be entering the Doctor Who universe, which is as vast as time and space itself. There's so much room there for all kinds of amazing stories and to work with [Doctor Who writer] Steven Moffat and [producer] Brian Minchin to find a place to tell one of my own has been an absolute joy. I can't wait for people to meet the heroes of Class, to meet the all-new villains and aliens, to remember that the horrors of the darkest corners of existence are just about on par with having to pass your A-levels.

Previous Doctor Who spin-offs include Torchwood, aimed at adult audiences and The Sarah Jane Adventures, aimed at younger audiences. Doctor Who Confidential and Torchwood Declassified were behind-the-scenes spin-offs that were also broadcast on BBC Three. Class will be the first spin-off aimed at teenage audiences, as well as the first new spin-off of the Moffat-era of Doctor Who.

What are you hoping to see in Class? It's pretty likely that the Doctor himself will turn up at some point, as he did in The Sarah Jane Adventures. I'm hoping to see the premise for Class set up in Doctor Who itself. Being set in a London school, it seems quite possible that the series could feature Coal Hill School, which the Doctor's granddaughter Susan attended and where Clara Oswald teaches. Jenna Coleman departs Doctor Who at the end of the current series - could it be becuase Clara Oswald wants to focus on a teaching career, leading into Class?

Finally, what do you think of the title Class? I'm not totally convinced by it, but I may warm up to it yet. Class doesn't air until 2016 so we may see a title change yet. Discuss it in the comments below and we'll get a conversation started!

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Gotham made a return to US television screens on Monday with the premiere of season two. Season two won't be coming to UK audiences until 2016, but whilst you wait (or find alternate means of online streaming) fans can find our spoiler-free reviews of Gotham every Tuesday from now going forwards here at Hello, Robots!

Haven't seen season one yet? You can find it on Netflix UK, where it's well worth a watch for its excellent character work (Robin Lord Taylor's Oswald Cobblepot/the Penguin is a particular delight to watch develop), machiavellian schemes, and masterful manipulation as we follow characters through the grimy underworld of Gotham.

Episode one of season two is 'Damned If You Do' and mostly serves as setting up the new status quo for Gotham.

In fact, one early scene does a pretty good job of doing that by itself: James Gordon and Dr Leslie Thompkins are in a relationship (as are their real-life actors Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin, AND having a baby); Harvey Bullock is no longer a cop and working as a bartender; the Penguin has taken control of the Falcone crime family; and Barbara Kean has been sent to Arkham Asylum and is mingling with the other inmates, including Jerome. This is a scene to really look out for, with Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day' doing an excellent job of setting the mood and reminding us of the recurring "brand new day in Gotham" line. It really speaks to something in Barbara's psyche too, in my opinion - melancholic, nostalgic, bright and happy on the outside with a touch of sadness inside.

Speaking of Barbara, it's a delight to see her let loose the wild and manipulative side of her that we only saw briefly in season one. Jerome, Gotham's Joker analogue (is he Joker? Will he become Joker? He fills the role brilliantly but I actually hope it's a question Gotham never answers), is similarly likable, as likable as a manipulative, loud-mouthed killer can be.

The central plot asks what is Jim Gordon prepared to do to be a police detective, which may have some interesting repercussions down the line. There's also a side-plot with Bruce and Alfred attempting to get into Thomas Wayne's secret basement - the Bat-cave the duo discovered in the season one finale. I can't help but feel that this episode suffers from the same problem I had with a lot of the first season, however: that Jim and Bruce are mostly boring characters.

I'm much more interested in what The Penguin (who isn't in this episode very much besides to service Jim's plot) or any other villain character is doing - indeed, the Penguin is possibly the most popular character in the show. I even enjoyed the freak-of-the-week "Zaardon the Soul Reaper" (an original character with no basis in the comics, in case you were wondering), not least of all because he looks a lot like Danny Devito as the Penguin. I suppose that's rather fitting in this series, being subtitled "Rise of the Villains" after all.

As an opening episode, 'Damned If You Do' is perhaps expectedly tame, largely serving to welcome viewers back and set up the status quo. Further judgement is going to have to be withheld until we see more of the series, but I'm very hopeful for this "Rise of the Villains" arc. Villains, or at least morally grey characters have always been Gotham's strong suit, and with the show's new focus on continuing storylines rather than the freak-of-the-week formula, we should see some really excellent storylines spinning out of Gotham.

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And so we got a new episode of Doctor Who yesterday. Was it a yay or a nay? To 'cut the chase' (as Missy would say); it was yay - but did have its fair share of nay-ness. If that makes any sense. Probably doesn't. So let's have a closer look.

Nowadays I've become one of those people who don't look out for spoilers. I don't actively avoid them either, but let's say the Doctor Who Twitter account posts a video of the upcoming series - will I watch it? Most likely not. Cons of doing this is that I may seem like a massive idiot and an ignorant fool when talking to my fellow nerds. But the significant pro is to get the satisfaction of 'Oh'.

The Magician's Apprentice started with a big 'Oh', when the little boy in the battlefield is surrounded by hand mines (literally hands - loved it) and the Doctor is reaching out to help him. He throws the little boy his sonic screwdriver and tells him he has one chance in a thousand for survival. Better concentrate on that one instead of the thousand. But then.

'Tell me the name of the boy who isn't going to die today.'
'Davros.'

Oh. Oh. 'If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that child grew up totally evil... to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives... could you then kill that child?'


The Magician's Apprentice is definitely more of an episode for those Doctor Who fans, who have some knowledge of the series beyond the reboot. Naturally, it also works, if all you know about Davros is that he appeared in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, but you'll definitely get more out of this episode with some more detailed background knowledge. References to Genesis of the Daleks are heavy, and if you've seen that episode you understand more of the world Davros and Daleks come from. I personally recommend reading the book version of the episode, if you still haven't seen it - it's great and leaves space for imagination.

After the title sequence we see a shady person wander around the galaxies looking for the Doctor muttering that 'Davros knows, Davros remembers'. The shady person is actually a big snake formed of lots of little snakes, and he calls Davros the Dark Lord of Skaro, which, to be frank, sounds absolutely ridiculous in a way that's far from good. The association with Voldemort just doesn't work. Nope. Makes me cringe. Anyway, the shady snake person returns to Davros, who has survived of the destruction of the Crucible - but seems to be feeling pretty poorly. The Snakey (his name is actually Sarff, but Snakey fits better, doesn't it?) hasn't found the Doctor, but Davros isn't concerned - the Doctor has a weakness and will come to him. And dun-dun-dun we see the Doctor's screwdriver in Davros' hand.

But it's not only Davros who's back - Missy, too, is here, even though we left the Series 8th thinking she was dead. Didn't last long, did it? The mystery of her resurrection is shuddered off with a pretty cheap line: 'Cutting the chase. Not dead. Back. Big surprise. Never mind', and people who aren't too fond of Moffat's writing get a new thing to complain about. Yet, I don't really mind, to be honest, because Missy is such a superstar with superb lines! She catches Clara's and the whole Earth's attention by simply stopping all the aircraft in the sky, and then has a nice little chitty-chat with Clara about an object delivered to the Doctor's closest friend on the eve of his death: the Doctor's confession dial - a Time Lord's final testament and will. Now delivered to Missy. So, the Doctor is going to die! Again! It's probably safe to assume that the contains of the Doctor's confession dial is a start of a series-long story (or longer, who knows about Moffat).
But I do have some problems with the whole Missy and the Doctor being best friends. I mean, obviously they were best friends, but it's a bit difficult to swallow it from the Doctor's end after all the things the Master/Missy has done. They're more like the only family they have left - which is why the Doctor's always had a soft spot for her. But bezzy mates? Though, when I started thinking about it, would have the 11th Doctor delivered his confession dial to Missy, if he had never regenerated? Or would have maybe Amy or River been the Doctor's closest friend in that case?

So, the Doctor is dying tomorrow and is no where to be found. Missy and Clara joint their effort to find him, and they locate the Doctor having sort of a party in the medieval Essex - classic, dude. The party is cut off pretty quickly, because Snakey has also found the Doctor by following Clara and Missy. We get yet another Harry Potter reference, but it's pretty amusing, actually (go, Neville, go!). Snakey reveals that he's possessing the Doctor's screwdriver - and oh now, it's heavily implied that the Doctor did not help poor little Davros back in Skaro. How naughty. The ashamed Doctor is pretty docile after seeing his old screwdriver and goes willingly with Snakey. And so do Clara and Missy!

(Now we see one of the Doctor's medieval friends, Bors, turn into a Dalek. Dammit, Bors, I had faith in you. Bors-Dalek goes and locates the TARDIS.) Snakey takes the Doctor, Clara and Missy to a floating building in space that looks more like a fancy jar - and that's where Davros is hiding. The lot gets dumped into a prison cell for a bit, before Snakey comes back to fetch the Doctor - who then, has a slightly awkward conversation with Clara about the teeny-tiny fact that the Doctor sent his confession dial to Missy - even though she was supposed to be dead (the Doctor also seems to pick up Clara's underlying feeling of betrayal, since he tries to explain why he sent the dial to Missy and not her). Now off you go Doctor! We're gonna see Missy in action for a bit. These tiny moments ('but this (gravity) feels real, maaaaaan') make me sincerely hope we'll get to see Missy A LOT in the future. While the Doctor is catching up with Davros, Missy and Clara have discovered that they're not in a floating building in space or a space station, but in fact, they've been brought onto an invisible planet. Why would a planet be invisible?

Shit.

Well, if the planet was a new Skaro, then it's pretty obvious why to try and hide it.

Well, now that the truth is discovered, Clara and Missy are in a trouble. Thanks to Bors, the TARDIS has been brought to Skaro as well, and the Daleks have plans to destroy it. Missy, however, suggests they make a deal - let her and the TARDIS live and she, as a Time Lady, can show them how the TARDIS works. Whether the suggestion was a genuine one or just an attempt to save the Doctor's skin as well, we'll not know, because the Daleks decide to exterminate her immediately. The same fate comes to Clara, even though the Doctor begs Davros (who claims he doesn't control his children) to save her. And the TARDIS. Wow. Bye bye.

The Doctor is pretty pissed off. The whole episode ends back in the old Skaro where the child Davros has just been abandoned by the Doctor... However, the Doctor is back - but this time to kill him. What a powerful and great way to end the episode.

Overall, the episode reminded me strongly of The Impossible Astronaut. It's clearly a start of a bigger story-arc, lots of things happen in many different places - and the fate of Clara, Missy and the TARDIS seem as bad as the Doctor's after he got shot by the astronaut. For me this episode needed a rewatch before I warmed up for it properly (unlike The Impossible Astronaut which I loved immediately). Also if you didn't manage to miss the spoilers or don't know Genesis of the Daleks, you probably miss out on some of the episode's charm.

Pros:

There he is! My favourite Dalek model!

+ Davros.
+ Genesis of the Daleks 2.0.
+ The Shadow Proclamation, The Maldovarium, Karn!
+ Missy. She's charming! Michelle Gomez is a wonderful actress. Beautiful job.
+ Retro Daleks.
+ The ending.

Cons:

- The Dark Lord Davros... seriously
- I didn't warm up to the literacy references. I might have to pick up a copy of The Magican's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar to completely understand the link. If someone's read the books, please enlighten me.
- Quite shallow explanation of the Doctor's and Missy's relationship
- Pacing. Too much things happening way too fast - a trademark of Steven Moffat. I needed a rewatch to totally catch-up with everything and without the rewatch, I would have probably rated this episode down.
- While Missy was great, Clara lacked all life. Well, I guess there's always one star that shines brighter.
- The Doctor dying is losing its charm. Sorry.

 Overall:

7/10

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Doctor Who is starting once again today with Peter Capaldi starring as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald in the ninth series of the reboot... but before we even go anywhere near the new episodes and next Saturdays, let's have a quick glance back at the eighth series - just for a reminder.

I don't know about you guys, but no matter how much I brace myself for the Doctor's regeneration I'm still not completely ready for it. Rationally thinking I'm all in for it - yes, amazing, a new Doctor, that's the way of the whole show and a part of its charm - and yet, every time there's something that keeps nagging in the back of my head about new Doctors. It happened with David Tennant, mind I'm the new era Whovian who only got into the series through the reboot, and it happened with Matt Smith and now it once again happened with Peter Capaldi. I think it took me the whole fifth series to get used to the eleventh Doctor - and to show run by Steven Moffat, and I still think the fifth series wasn't all that good, but I did get used to Matt Smith's Doctor and I enjoyed him greatly.

I'm still working on getting under Capaldi's Doctor's skin - but he's the Doctor alright, and pretty good one.

As a series, I think the eighth series did a very good job. Well done. Interestingly, I think Moffat has more and more shifted away from certain Moffat-ness that bothered me about the fifth series especially - it was the most fairy-tale-y Doctor Who we've ever seen. One day I can write a detailed analysis of the subject, but what I think, is that Moffat is evolving as a show-runner and broadening his own style - it's almost weird to think this series 8 is run by the same man.

One of the big themes of the eighth series was the Doctor and Clara's relationship which is one of the most dynamic and most interesting in Doctor Who, and I'm very, very curious about Clara's future with the Doctor. In the eighth series Clara starts to see the man behind the tricks and bowties (since, he's no longer wearing those) and she's not sure what to do about it. Then again, the Doctor is getting challenged by her in a new way since she's no longer amazed by the dashing young Doctor. In the mid-series Clara realises she can't keep doing the travelling in the TARDIS anymore, but letting go is just too difficult.

And one more thing: I love Danny Pink. Danny is/was great and probably a character I've been able to relate the best. He was calm most of the time, and rational, and just generally pleasant. He's awesome in The Caretaker episode where he totally owns the Doctor in his own game by saluting him. For this once I almost wished they'd do some wibbly-wobbly time magic and bring him back - but I'm a fan of powerful story-telling, and keeping Danny six feet under is more powerful than bringing him back. Sadly.

Anyway, I think now is a good time to have a quick look back onto the episodes of the 8th series:

Deep Breath - For the reasons I explained earlier, I don't have high hopes for the debut episode of the new Doctors. Deep Breath wasn't bad, but I never like watching the unbalanced, still regenerating, silly-weird Doctor. Well, the Doctor is always a bit silly and weird, but especially Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi's Doctors first minutes are dreadful to watch for me - I get the idea, but there's just something I can't stand about the almost hysterical, new Doctor. Well, if we put that on the side and think about the episode itself... it was alright, really. I didn't really like the dinosaur that much, but fair enough, I absolutely love Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax - but after giving this episode a rewatch, it really bothered me how both Vastra and Jenny... objectify everything. All females are to flirt with a bit, all males to be made fun of. But I don't want it to bother me too much, cos to be honest, the trio does amuse me a lot and are great together. I liked Clara having problems with the new Doctor, it was like a reversed Rose-situation. The clock-work androids were cool and the link with the Pompadour ship was nice. The Heaven, however, was damn ridiculous and I didn't care for the idea - but it was still pretty intriguing and so was the Missy.

Into the Dalek - Into the Dalek has a great concept which is also executed pretty well, I think. To be honest, I think this episode could have maybe worked better not immediately after introducing a new Doctor, but there you go. One of the purpose of this episode was to show the darker side of the new Doctor right from the start. The twelfth Doctor sees people dying around him and keeps whatever emotions it brings up deep within him.

Robots of Sherwood - It's a bit of a shame we didn't get a story about a respected, creative genius from the past like Agatha Christie or Vincent van Gogh, but instead we got Robin Hood. Robots of Sherwood is more of an easy-going, silly episode. It was okay, but I don't have that much anything to say about it really.

Listen - Oh, the new Blink, it was! Listen is an amazing episode, hands down. Is there really creatures there we can't see or is this only the Doctor's personal paranoia? I'm not sure which option would be less terrifying - and that makes Listen such a good episode. But it's not only that, the exploration of Clara's relationship, hopes and fears regarding Danny Pink.

Time Heist - An excellent episode, I mean, who doesn't love a heist? It's not however just the heist I personally love in this episode - it's the whole package really and it may even be my very favourite episode of this series. I often criticise Moffat's team's ability to create good one-off characters (something Russell T Davies was very good at), but Psi and Saibra are exactly the kind of characters I enjoy watching. They're interesting, have a background and motives - and especially when I thought Psi died, I was genuinely upset. And the plot was just great and something only Doctor Who could pull off - and for once, despite all the twists this episode wasn't the confusing, hard to keep up with type.

The Caretaker - The Caretaker, I love it, it's like a better version of School Reunion back in the second series.

Kill the Moon - Some big ones like The Independent, IGN and The Daily Telegraph have labelled Kill the Moon one of the best episodes in the New Who, but I must disagree on this one. I can't have been the only one who wasn't surprised that the moon was actually an egg? I think everything in this episode was extremely predictable, but it wasn't a bad episode - just not worth all the praise it got, it wasn't good drama. Clara's decision didn't have any consequences - and did we even expect that something bad would have happened? Nope. Only real, good, television drama we experienced was the interaction between the Doctor and Clara after the Doctor's decision to leave Clara alone.

Mummy on the Orient Express - I liked this episode. A nice little mystery and there is just something about the periodical style!

Flatline - 2-dimensional creatures, loved the idea.

In the Forest of the Night - I admit: on my first watch I fell asleep in the middle of the episode and kinda missed everything and anything that happened in it. For my defence, I watched it pretty late, but it was still an upsetting occasion - I used to be such a massive Doctor Who fan that this would never have happened in the past, but my biggest flame for the show is probably behind me. This episode was sweet and innocent, and sometimes it's just good.

Dark Water - My one and only criticism is that why the hell did they include the Cybermen already in the preview trailer of this episode? I was lucky and had forgotten the involvement of the Cybermen, and got to experience the amazing sensation of realising the twist just seconds before it actually happened. The death of Danny Pink was SAD. And Clara was magnificent.

Death in Heaven - The first episode of this two parter was definitely the better one of these, but this one was still good. In the end it was pretty damn obvious Missy was the Master - the last few years people have been going on about should the Doctor for once be a female and clearly the Missy is here to try the ice and warm all of us up to the idea of a female Doctor.

More of this dotted shirt, please.

So, what are the expectations for the new series? I haven't been watching the preview trailers too much, but I saw one some months ago with the dragon - the dragon is sadly the only thing I remember of it, and not in a positive sense - because it looked absolutely awful. So, I'm definitely not looking forward to the episode with the dragon, and I think the dragon might be first on the line judging by the episode name The Magician's Apprentice (and The Witch's Familiar). At least the dragon will be soon done and over with! But apart from that the ninth series has very intriguing episode titles just like the eighth series - and for me a good title is always a promising start. I'm definitely most intrigued by the episodes The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived, and just because of the curious titles. Also, since it's been pretty much everywhere, it's hardly a secret Jenna Coleman will be leaving us in this series and we get to say goodbye to Clara - I for once am looking forward to that.

Capaldi has been an amazing Doctor and now in the new series he'll shine even more. Also, he has a great wardrobe. Love it.

And oh, only a couple of hours to go.

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