| 242 – "Deep Breath" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who episode | |||
.jpg) The newly regenerated Doctor asks the Half-Face Man if he can remember where he acquired his current face, while at the same time wonders the same question about himself. | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | Ben Wheatley | ||
| Written by | Steven Moffat | ||
| Produced by | Nikki Wilson | ||
| Executive producers | Steven Moffat Brian Minchin | ||
| Music by | Murray Gold | ||
| Series | Series 8 | ||
| Running time | 76 minutes | ||
| First broadcast | 23 August 2014 (2014-08-23) | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
| List of episodes (2005–present) | |||
"Deep Breath" is the first episode of theeighth series of the Britishscience fiction television programmeDoctor Who, first broadcast onBBC One and released in cinemas on 23 August 2014. It was written by showrunner and executive producerSteven Moffat and directed byBen Wheatley.
In the episode, the newlyregeneratedTwelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi), andClara (Jenna Coleman) land in Victorian London where they find a dinosaur rampant in the Thames and a spate of deadly spontaneous combustions. However, their friendship is put in jeopardy as Clara struggles to cope with the Doctor's new incarnation.
The episode has the first full-length appearance ofPeter Capaldi as the Doctor, with Coleman reprising her role as hiscompanion Clara from thelast series.[1] It also featuresNeve McIntosh,Catrin Stewart, andDan Starkey reprising their roles asMadame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax,[2] as well as Capaldi's predecessor,Matt Smith, in a cameo appearance. The episode sets up the main story arc of the series revolving around a mysterious woman called Missy (portrayed byMichelle Gomez), who is often seen welcoming people who have died throughout the series to the "Promised Land", a place that serves as an apparent afterlife to deceased characters.
Deep Breath was watched by 9.17 million viewers, the highest ratings for a premiere sinceMatt Smith'sfirst episode as the Doctor in 2010 and received positive reviews, with many critics praising the performances of Capaldi and Coleman, Moffat's script, and the introduction and stylisation of the new Doctor, though Smith's cameo received mixed reviews.
A dinosaur materialises in Victorian London and spits out theTARDIS onto the banks of theRiver Thames. The newlyregeneratedTwelfth Doctor, andClara Oswald, emerge from the TARDIS, and the Doctor, still affected by his recent regeneration, misremembers the names of thePaternoster Gang and confuses Clara with Handles before collapsing. While the Doctor rests at thePaternoster Gang residence, theSilurian Madame Vastra confronts Clara about her prejudiced attitude to the Doctor's changed face. The dinosaur bursts into flames; Vastra confirms this is not the first recent incident of spontaneous combustion. The Doctor and Clara separately investigate.
_(cropped).jpg)
The next morning, the Doctor roams the back streets for answers, recognising his current face from before. Both Clara and the Doctor find an advertisement in a newspaper directing them to meet at a specific restaurant. They learn that neither of them planted the message, and discover the restaurant is part of a crashed spaceship filled with humanoid robots. Beneath the restaurant, they see a dormant malecyborg with half a face. The Doctor surmises the Half-Face Man is a robot replacing his mechanical parts with biological ones.
Upon Clara's prompting, the awakened Half-Face Man reveals that he is trying to reach the "promised land" by prolonging his life via parts replacements and he killed the dinosaur to use her biological material for his computer. The Half-Face Man deploys his escape pod—a hot-air balloon made of human skin—lifting him and the Doctor into the sky. The Doctor claims that the Half-Face Man—the other robots' control node—has replaced his components so many times that he no longer exists in his original form and does not want to continue his existence. The Doctor then warns that either the Half-Face Man will have to kill himself, or the Doctor will be forced to kill him to protect the humans. The other robots go lifeless; the Half-Face Man is impaled on the spire ofBig Ben.
The Doctor suspects the person who put the message in the newspaper inviting Clara and him to the restaurant is the same woman in a shop who gave Clara the phone number for the TARDIS.[a] Clara expresses misgivings about the new Doctor's character and is unsure about continuing to travel with him. However, she gets a phone call from theEleventh Doctor, made moments before his regeneration, encouraging her to stay, and reminding Clara that the Doctor is still the same person underneath. She agrees and returns to the current regneration. The Half-Face Man awakens and meets a woman calledMissy, who tells him he has reached the promised land.
Madame Vastra's line, "Well, here we go again", refers toBrigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's utterance as theThird Doctor regenerates into theFourth Doctor inPlanet of the Spiders (1974).[3] The Doctor remarks how his new face is similar to another he has seen, recalling how theTenth Doctor met a man named Caecilius in "The Fires of Pompeii" (2008), also played by Capaldi.[4] The call from theEleventh Doctor to Clara is shown from the Eleventh Doctor's perspective from his final moments before regenerating on the planet Trenzalore, and using footage from "The Time of the Doctor".[5] The cyborgs' concealed ship is named theSS Marie Antoinette, the 'sister ship of theSS Madame de Pompadour'. This is a reference to Series 2's fourth episode "The Girl in the Fireplace". The Doctor is unable to make the connection because in the earlier episode he never discovered the ship's name. (2006).[6]
Towards the end of the story, the Doctor speculates on the identity of the person that wrote the "Impossible Girl" newspaper ad, suspecting it is the same person who gave Clara the number for the TARDIS phone in "The Bells of Saint John" (2013), both revealed inDeath in Heaven to have beenMissy.[7] The closing dialogue between Clara and the Doctor about coffee, and the Doctor's inability to pay for them, recalls a similar exchange about chips between theNinth Doctor andRose Tyler at the conclusion of "The End of the World" (2005).[8]
_cropped.jpg)
Matt Smith's scene as the Eleventh Doctor was filmed on 5 October 2013, the last day of shooting for "The Time of the Doctor".[9] Moffat had written Smith's scene prior to the rest of the episode.[10] The readthrough for the episode was held on 17 December 2013,[9] and shooting began at the Maltings inCardiff on 7 January 2014.[11] Shooting later took place at Mount Stuart Square on the 13th,[12] Scenes were also filmed onQueen Street and on the 28th.[13] An uncreditedRachel Talalay directed the Missy scene, as Wheatley was unavailable; she consulted him and tried to incorporate his ideas.[14] The shoot finished on 18 February 2014.[9]
Steven Moffat has said that this episode would be a "big introduction" forPeter Capaldi as theTwelfth Doctor. He said that there will be "plenty of action and nonsense and jeopardy, as there ever is inDoctor Who."[15]
On 11 August 2014 a 30-second trailer for the episode was released onTwitter.[16][17]
Brian Miller, who plays the tramp Barney, is thewidower ofElisabeth Sladen who portrayed long-time companionSarah Jane Smith. He had previously appeared inSnakedance inSeason 20, as well as playing Harry Sowersby inThe Mad Woman in the Attic, an episode ofThe Sarah Jane Adventures, and providing Dalek voices for bothResurrection of the Daleks andRemembrance of the Daleks.
On 6 July 2014, the scripts for the first five episodes of the series (including "Deep Breath") were inadvertently leaked online fromBBC Worldwide's Latin America headquarters, prompting a plea from BBC Worldwide to keep the storylines of the five episodes secret.[18] Also leaked was a black-and-white rough cut of "Deep Breath", missing most of the visual effects but otherwise mostly complete.[19] The BBC blamed the leak on the fact that the files had been stored on a publicly accessibleserver in its newMiami-based headquarters.[20]Steven Moffat, speaking at theLondon Film and Comic Con, called the leak "horrible, miserable and upsetting".[21]
The episode was asimulcast in the United Kingdom and many other countries on 23 August 2014, and was broadcast later that same day in other locations such as onBBC America. On 31 August 2014, the episode was broadcast onPrime TV in New Zealand.[22][23]
The episode had its world premiere inCardiff on 7 August 2014 as part of theseries 8 world tour.[24][25] As part of the tour, advance screenings were also held at other destinations on the tour.[26][27][28] As with "The Day of the Doctor", "Deep Breath" received a worldwide cinema release at participating cinemas on 23 August 2014.[29] The episode received a midnight screening in 12 cities across the United States on 23 August, and a larger showing in 550 cinemas on 25 August.[29][30] The cinema screenings of the episode were accompanied by a five-minute prequel.[31]
Upon airing in its 7.50pm timeslot, the "Deep Breath" simulcast entertained an average audience of 6.79 million in the United Kingdom. The episode reached a peak of 6.96 million viewers, watched by nearly a third of all viewers on the evening of broadcast with a 32.5% audience share.[32] The final ratings for the week, which do not includeBBC iPlayer viewers but do include viewers who watched the programme within a week of its transmission, showed 9.17 million viewers (37.9% audience share) saw the episode, making it the second highest rated programme for the week on British television.[33] This was also the highest final viewing figures for a regular series episode ofDoctor Who sinceMatt Smith's first full episode, "The Eleventh Hour", was broadcast in April 2010, although Christmas specials and the 2013 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" had scored higher viewing figures.[34] Its chart position meant it became only the eighth episode ofDoctor Who to be one of the week's top two most viewed programmes.[34] In terms of L+7 ratings "Deep Breath" had 10.76 million views.[35] The episode also toppedBBC iPlayer for August, getting 2.06 million requests within eight days.[36]
In the United States, the premiere airing onBBC America had an audience of 2.19 million viewers, the highest Saturday ratings for the network and just under the highest viewership from "The Day of the Doctor" special, combining for a total of 2.6 million viewers, a significant increase from the 1.5 million that had watched the Series 7 premiere in 2012.[37][38] In Australia, the episode had a total of 1.19 million viewers onABC.[39] InCanada, "Deep Breath" had almost 1.4 million viewers overall onSpace,[40] becoming the second most-watched broadcast ever on this channel.[41]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The A.V. Club | B+[42] |
| Paste Magazine | 7.8[43] |
| SFX Magazine |   [44] |
| TV Fanatic | [45] |
| CultBox | [46] |
| IGN | 8.2[47] |
| New York Magazine | [48] |
| Radio Times | [49] |
| The Daily Telegraph | [50] |
The episode received positive reviews, with many critics praising the performances of Capaldi and Coleman, Moffat's script, and the introduction and stylisation of the new Doctor. Matt Smith's cameo, however, was met with mostly mixed reviews.[51][52][53][54][55] The episode was nominated for theGLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode.[56]
The Guardian responded well to the episode, labelling Capaldi's performance as "intimidating, bold and unsettling", and praising Ben Wheatley's direction in the episode's tenser moments, calling it "the stuff of true terror and wonderment".[57] Matt Smith's cameo as theEleventh Doctor was criticised by theDaily Mirror. However, it ultimately labelled the episode "impeccable", stating that Capaldi "has all the hallmarks of a great Doctor".[58] Michael Hogan, writing forThe Daily Telegraph, praised Moffat's writing for second guessing viewers' opinions about the new Doctor and for stating clearly that there would be no flirting for this face. Hogan notes that "the tone seemed different, too, quieter and more thoughtful – less about running down corridors holding hands, more about self-discovery and redemption." Hogan also stated that the script was similar toSherlock, for which Moffat also wrote, and was a bit slow in places, but still combined behind-the-sofa action with humorous comments about ITV and the Scottish Referendum.[50]
Brian Lowry ofVariety praised Moffat's script, stating that it "emphasizes storyline continuity and easing faithful viewers into the regeneration transition" and closed his review by saying "It’s a skillful tonal balance that defines the best of “Doctor Who,” and exemplifies the ethos that keeps the series going strong, nodding to the past with all eyes on the future".[59] David Wiegand of theSan Francisco Chronicle heavily praised the episode, particularly Moffat's writing, saying that his script "masterfully manipulates audience expectation". He ultimately awarded the episode a perfect 4/4 stars.[60]
However, not all reviews were positive.Forbes panned the story as "strangely recessive, unheroic, [and] dull", calling both Capaldi and Coleman's characters "insipid".[61]
The scene in which Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint exchange a kiss generated six complaints toOfcom, with viewers criticising theBBC for promoting a "blatant gay agenda".[62] Ofcom decided not to investigate the matter further, judging that the complaints did not "raise issues warranting investigation."[63] The scene was removed from the Asian broadcast of the episode in order to comply with Singapore's broadcast code.[64]
"Deep Breath" received a standalone DVD and Blu-ray release in the United Kingdom on 8 September 2014,[65] the United States on 9 September,[66] and Australia on 10 September.[67] Thereafter, it was released in the Complete Eighth Series DVD and Blu-ray box set in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2014,[68] Australia on 19 November,[69] and in the U.S. on 9 December.[70]
Doctor Who episodes | |
|---|---|
| Series 8 | |
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
