1)The bitey snowflakes are an amusing visual.
2)"I said I'd feed you - I didn't say who to." Simeon's a bit reminiscent of Kazran Sardick.
3)Steam Age Souffle Girl seems interesting - shame they didn't go with her, it would be nice to have a "non-modern" conmpanion for once.
4)Interesting new look for the Doctor - he's re-visiting the Second Doctor's habit of wearing odd hats.
5)And there's the Lesbian Lizard Lady again.
6)The new opening is OK - I see they're reviving the business of having the Doctor's face in the opening credits.
7)"Ice remembers, too." OK.
8)The "Doctor Doyle" gag is a little too cutesy for my tastes.
9)I thought Strax was dead? "Another friend of mine brought him back." Of course. Fine, then what's he doing in the Nineteenth Century? He does get some funny bits, though: "A grenade!", "Automated laser-monkeys" and the "memory worm" gag.
10)The snowmen are sufficiently creepy, as is the ice-nanny.
11)The "cloud fort" business was kind of lame, I thought.
12)"Pond." NO! SHUT UP!
13)The Doctor trying to be Sherlock Holmes is kind of amsuing - he did it better "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".
14)"We are the Intelligence." As I suspected from the title, Moffat is here re-introducing an old enemy from the Second Doctor's era. The Great Intelligence first appeared in "The Abominable Snowmen", trying to take over Tibet with robot Yetis, and then again in "The Web of Fear", this time attmepting to take over the London Underground using robot Yetis. In a way, this story is a sort of prequel to those stories. Here is it is voice by Gandalf, interestingly enough.
15)"Good evening, I'm a lizard woman from the dawn of time, and this is my wife." "This dwelling is under attack. Remain calm, human scum."
16)I'm weary of the "mopey" Doctor, I hope they get him over that quickly.
17)"We can't chat after we've been horribly killed, can we?" Not typically, no.
18)Not wild about the new TARDIS console room, but then, I wasn't wild about the old one, either. The last TARDIS console roon I really liked was the McGann one - the best thing about the TV movie, actually.
19)"It's smaller on the outside."
20)"I never know why, I only know who."
21)"the only force that could drown the snow - a whole family crying on Christmas Eve." that's all a little too "Clap your hands if you beleive in fairies" for me."
22)"The Great Intelligence - it rings a bell." Aaagh - I just remembered that one of the main plot devices in "The Abominable Snowmen" was a bell that they had recover to use against the Great Intelligence!
Overall:
Not bad - as with most of Moffat's stories, it's fun enough to watch, so long as you don't think about the plot too much.
[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]
Replies
The nanny was supposed to suggest Mary Poppins. She disappears mysteriously for periods (Mary Poppins does this between books), the family can't function properly without her, and she tells marvellous stories. The script made a point of getting an umbrella into her hands, and at the climax she comes down from the sky.
Interesting - I've hard of Mary Poppins, but I've never actually seen/read her story.
She appeared in a series of books by P.L. Travers. I read a couple of them in primary school. According to Wikipedia the first one was published in 1934, and I'm surprised to learn from the same source that Ms Travers, who was born in 1899, lived until 1996 and added books to the series in the 70s and 80s. On reflection, I don't recall if Mary Poppins told stories to the children as well as taking them on adventures.
Ah, the Great Intelligence. (I should have thought of that, having listened to to "The Web of Fear" only recently.) was interpreting the title too literally, thinking only of the abominable snowmen when you first posted that comment.
Tracy objects strenuously to the Doctor's attitude toward Clara/Oswin (kissing her hand, kissing her forehead, etc.). Me, I'm intrigued how Clara can possibly (apparantly) also be "soufle girl" (and I interpret the doctor's interest in her along those lines), but after having watched the episode a second time, I can certainly see Tracy's point.