Every Gatiss Episode - thoughts

I can be more rational with the others

Unqueit Dead 1st new series Ep I relaly liked

Idoit Lantern

Solidly Average

Vitctory

Great start awful last 20 minutes

Nignt Terrors

Good story but my last straw with Amy Pond

Cold War and Crimson

Best eps of that season

Robots of Sherwood

Clearly meant for Matt Smith

Empress of Mars

Charming fun Fan stuff

Regards

mark687

I know he gets flack but I'm a HUGE Gatiss fan. Not just on Who but in the League Of Gentlemen, for the love we share for British horror from Hammer, Amicus and Tigon, as an actor (his role in Nighty Night is one of the funniest ever), for his 4 Wilderness Years books, for his BF work as writer and star...even if that Kisgart guy steals the credit) and his wonderful Lucifer Box novels and especially for his glorious docudrama about William Hartnell's Who years which brought me to tears. So I'm a bit of a fanboy. Judging him purely on his televised Who work:

The Unquiet Dead
Probably my favourite celebrity historical and a real smash hit. It had to be as the first time that Nu-Who went historical. It gave us Eve Myles too, lest we forget. The Doctor and Dickens are written wonderfully. A fave of the season. I was worried after Rose and The End Of THe World that New Who was gonna be a bit...too CGI and playing young. This put my fears to bed as it's a lovely gothic tale that would fit with Tom Baker perfectly. I think it's Gattis doing Robert Holmes via MR James. 


The Idiot's Lantern
The only scene that I dislike is nothing to do with the writing, it's Jamie Foreman's acting when he loses the rag. Terrible. I quite like some of this - the creepy faces, the lovely period street, the Wire...it's a solid mid season ep. The son clearly being gay in an era where this was illegal also added an extra layer but Gattis didn't make it explicit that he was gay, it was all implied. Rose got it though. Nicely done.

Victory of the Daleks
Here's where you think I'm mad. I bloody love this one. Churchill is...nothing like the real one but I don't care - this is how he is here. The heart of the episode is Bracewell, played wonderfully by Bill Patterson who I've had the pleasure to meet on many occasions. If you haven't seen him in Bill Forsyth's Comfort and Joy please do so. Gattis was ordered to introduce the Dalek paradigm and neither he not Moffat wanted to do so, or liked the outcome. SO I don't hold that against him. Indeed, he makes some smashing stuff with the Daleks - the DOc using a jammy dodger to fool them being a fave. "I am your soldier" echoing "I am your servant" from Power Of The Daleks. I love the design of the Ironside Daleks. They're so wonderful it makes the paradigm even worse! I think it's sprawling, mad, nonsense...and I love it for that. I don't CARE if Spitfires in space is stupid - no other show can do it, so why not? And as a big fan of Where Eagles Dare "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" was much appreciated. Gattis and I really do love the same movies.

Night Terrors
You know eps you've seen 3 or 4 times but still don't truly remember? That's this one for me. I remember the dolls being creaky, liking the set design that made a block of flats different and spooky. Daniel Mays being in Who was also a treat. Apart from that....I'm kinda stumped. Yet I know it was OK, nothing wrong...but clearly forgettable.

Cold War
Yeah! David Warner is in TV Who at last 4 decades after being considered for the role of The Doctor. Some nice stuff here - Mark expands the Ice Warriors mythos and capabilities but in a perfectly natural way that didn't jar. It's not your normal base under siege. It's a game of honour and courage. Who is beave enough to not engage in Mutually Assured Destruction? I enjoy this one massively.

The Crimson Horror
Mark finally gets to use some of the Hammer tropes. This is the best Paternoster ep for me. It's fun, it's playful and it's reverential. WHo ever thought we'd get a Tegan reference?? I liked the film changing to early Lumierie Brothers quality in parts. The best bit was Diana Rigg playing it SO over the top she was glorious. Her line about "the wrong hands" is my favourite joke in ALL of New Who. Liam Cunningham was second to McGann for the TV Movie so nice that he gets a role here. He's had a good career as a character actor but I think the whole of geek culture adore him now as he's Ser Davos, one of the most popular characters in Game Of Thrones. Good for him!

Robot of Sherwood
Another one I like. I must admit despite being anti-piracy I do have a bootleg of this ep as there are two whole scenes excised from broadcast. One particularly important as it's the one that confirms Ben Miller's Sheriff is a robot - and therefore the title character. It's worth it for the banter between Capaldi and Robin Hood - the scene where they're locked up together had me in stiches. Capaldi's Doctor, especially in S8 wasn't fun? No chance - he's hilarious here. Mark writes a tribute to all Hoods, from Richard Greene to Pat Troughton. Lovely, sweet stuff. It's also brave enough to ask "If Robin isn't real...is The Doctor?". Lynchian in that moment. 

Sleep No More
I am probably the biggest Reece Shearsmith fan you'll meet. I adore him entirely. He was my first choice to replace Capaldi. He threatened to become a leading man with starring roles in The Widower with Sheridan Smith and Casting Shadows with Alex Kingston and Noel Clarke. Yet the shows never took off and he didn't get to step up. That's fine though as he went back to playing character pieces, as well as the AMAZING Inside No. 9 which is one of the best comedy horrors ever. The episode itself....it's an interesting idea but ultimately despite a nice "it's going to happen anyway...." ending, there's so little here to commend. It's a runaround thats impossible to care about....there's nothing for the cast bar Reece to really sink into. I know Mark had horrible time restraints but honestly - this is bad. 

Empress of Mars
It's clearly his First Men On The Moon tribute with a wee bit of Mysterious Island in the mix. Liked the setup at NASA and the Empress was interesting. The soldiers were stock characters but that's fine when making an old school ep. It's nothing revolutionary but it's fine DOctor Who.

So really I've at least liked all his eps bar SLeep No More which I still would watch for my love of Reece Shearsmith.  So although he's slagged as a jobs for the boys pick who rarely brings anything new to the table I find he's got some great qualities. Looking at his eps the best theme for me is his celeb hisotricals. He made wonderful characters from Dickens, Churchill and the Sherwood gang. I like Mark's work then and after a while, if the stars line up - I'd like him back. 

I've loved all the Gattis episodes, Unquiet Dead, The idiots Lantern, Night Terrors & Robot of Sherwood are some of my favourite episodes ever.

The Unquiet Dead
A very nice reintroduction into the idea of pseudo-historicals. There's a nicely balanced bit of tragedy with Gwyneth and her angels. Simon Callow's Charles Dickens is rather splendid, I particularly like how he's the one to come up with the final escape plan.

The Idiot's Lantern
I remember having a lot of fun with this one, the Wire was one of those adversaries that just gave me the creeps. The little sadist in a wooden box who steals people's faces. Brr. NA readers/listeners, did anyone else get vague echoes of the Sentience from Nightshade?

Victory of the Daleks
I'd say fair. The designs for the Paradigm Daleks weren't Gatiss's fault (if they'd been grimier pseudo-Amicus models I'd have been thrilled), but I do feel the story leaned a little too heavily into Power without bringing much new to the table. Not just in the field of domesticated drones, but in Bracewell/Lesterson as well. That being said, it's a shame that the Paradigm never really took off past this episode. I'd have loved to see them building up their power base a la The Dalek Chronicles in the background as a season arc.

Night Terrors
I... don't remember what this one was about actually.

Cold War
See Empress of Mars.

The Crimson Horror
This was the first episode where I really wanted to see the Target novelisation for it. An Avengers (helped in no small part by the ever-glorious Diana Rigg) episode set in steampunk Victoriana that felt like a backdoor pilot of sorts for a Paternoster gang series. The rather twisted relationship between Gillyflower and her daughter is some very nice characterisation, particularly as the latter develops a shine for the Doctor. I only wish there were more of it. One worth revisiting and fleshing out, I think.

Robot of Sherwood
An Errol Flynn swashbuckler going toe-to-toe with an incarnation who felt more at home in a William Freidkin film at this point. I remember the Doctor's insistence about Robin's fictionality got a bit grating on first viewing, but I'd be interested to see how that's aged now with two/three additional years of characterisation under his belt. Speaking of which, there is a beautiful little moment of acting from Capaldi as he places his hand against his cheek where he's just been kissed.

Sleep No More
Another one I don't quite remember.

Empress of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs would have been rather chuffed. This was the one where I felt Gatiss really pinned down what made the Ice Warriors work, it nicely captures their nobility and their ruthlessness without making either seem like a contradiction. There's a nice thematic irony to both sides in the conflict essentially being out-of-place relics on a planet tainted by the red dawn. It's only a nitpick production-wise, but I missed the sonic disruptor sound effect from the Peladon stories, I'd like to have seen it make a return.

Top Episodes of Mark Gatiss

1) Robot of Sherwood

2) The Crimson Horror

3) The Unquiet Dead

4) Empress of Mars

5) Cold War

6) The Idiot’s Lantern

7) Victory of the Daleks

8) Night Terrors

9) Sleep No More

I love Robot of Sherwood, I think it’s a really funny episode, Clara was great, I loved the Doctor’s dynamics with Robin Hood and had a great message about heroism and inspiration and fiction from the heroes.

The Crimson Horror, I like to focus in the Paternoster gang, mostly in Jenny, and I loved Winifred Gillyflower and Ada, they were great characters.

As of Cold War, the episodes for me are just regular.

Victory of the Daleks and Sleep No More are not so bad episodes, both have good ideas and scenes, in Victory I liked the story of the scientist, the fact that nobody believed in the Doctor and in the end the daleks win, already in Sleep No More sincerely not I see what’s so bad about this episode, it has a good idea, a good mood and a good ending, of course there are several things I would do differently, but there’s nothing bad about the villan.

The only one I do not like, that I hate is Night Terrors, I hated the kid in the episode and had several things that I think did not made sense. Overall I like Mark Gatiss, he did not write my favorites of the seasons but he is not such a bad roter as people say.

+Victory of the Daleks- As has been noted, great start and then the episode falls apart.
+Night Terrors- I don't remember a thing about this episode. Literally nothing.
+Cold War- Another episode I liked but did not love.
+The Crimson Horror- An episode that I adore. Maybe my favorite episode of the series.
+Robot of Sherwood- I would agree it felt like a 11th Doctor episode but it works in a strange way with 12 instead.
+Sleep No More- An episode I need to revisit.
+Empress of Mars- One of my favorite episodes from that final Capaldi series.

What were they called at the time? The colors of Benetton Daleks?

To Moffat's credit, the new paradigm Daleks were dropped like a hot potato. Part of coming in is trying new things and shaking things up but also part of the equation is knowing when something you have tried isn't working or has failed.