The Return of Doctor Mysterio - Take Two Doctor Who Review

The Doctor accidentally bestows superpowers onto a young comic book fan and decades later things have gotten a bit complicated. Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor returns, with Steven Moffat back to script another holiday special before giving viewers Series 10. Also returning is Matt Lucas as Nardole, the new sort-of companion in this Superman flavored romp.
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[@mattcohlmiaii1043]

Grant: “He got bit by a radioactive spider, and guess what happened.” The Doctor: “... Radioactive poisoning, I should think.” That line kills me every time. 😂

[@JediOttselWaluigikid115]

I agree I laugh so hard when I first heard it in the episode.🤣

[@localhearthian2387]

To be fair, that did happen to the Doctor. Twice.

[@tidalblue2739]

*Things end. That's all. Everything ends, and it's always sad. But everything begins again too, and that's always happy. Be happy* Wonderful speech

[@ryanpollard1166]

I know this episode is commonly disliked, but I thought this was one of the most underrated episodes I've seen. I love Doctor Who and I love superheroes, and this episode balances both genres really well, and the banter between everyone was glorious. I especially loved the scenes between the Doctor and kid Grant at the beginning as we see how grandfatherly and eccentric he can be ("How do you keep a glass a water in your pocket?" "Skills."), and the ending was perfect. I know this will never be loved by everyone, but every once in a while, I watch this one for a good ol' laugh.​

[@chanceneck8072]

It's my favorite, currently...

[@Freak80MC]

Oh is it commonly disliked? It was one of my more liked Christmas episodes.

[@WiloPolis03]

I get why some were conpletely annoyed by this one, but I personally think it's one of the best Christmas specials. Also Nardole is no longer annoying and is actually entertaining

[@Th3XStreamist]

I love the bit near the end where the bad guy pulls out the gun and says its not over and the Doctor just sonic destroys the gun and says yes it is :D

[@PaulAndroid]

I just like how wildly different this story is to anything else in Doctor Who. It's the kind of story that you couldn't really see being in the middle of a series nor could it have been any other Christmas special because the previous couple of specials were paying off plot arcs. (2015 - River Song, 2014 - Clara coming back, 2013 - the Doctor regenerating) This one just holds the unique position of not having to narratively nor thematically tie into Series 9 or 10, and it just decides to do a superhero pastiche because why not? It's the kind of left field thing I like seeing in Doctor Who.

[@CulturePhilter]

I had absolutely not clocked that that was the guy from Dragonball evolution! 😳

[@thebige4113]

I absolutely loved this episode. One of my favourite Christmas specials. I think it's got a perfect balance of stupidity and seriousness. I remember being so confused when I first saw this episode (it was one of the first Doctor Who episodes I had watched) and now I love watching it every Christmas since as my own little Christmas tradition

[@heatherrockwell9012]

I only realized years after watching this episode that it was disliked- the first time I saw it, I thought it was one of the funnest things I'd ever seen.

[@evanmccreesh268]

For me, this is up there with The Unicorn and the Wasp in terms of pure comedy aspects

[@NichtcrawlerX]

This is the year I convinced my family to watch the Christmas special live on tv with me (since family Christmas). My dad clearly enjoyed it very much, but had to hide it because my step-mum hates all things sci-fi or even slightly unrealistic. I suppose that one act of defiance of my dad is part of the bias of why I like this episode so much.

[@SirMeowsAlot89]

When this episode first came out. I didn’t like it. After a few rewatches, a few years later. I really like this episode.

[@dubbingsync]

It’s not a strong Christmas Episode and it a pretty mediocre story but if you allow yourself to lean into the campy feel of it, it’s a good story.

[@jayanderson9375]

It grew on me

[@lwaves]

After the first viewing, I had mixed feelings but after a second I liked it a lot more. It's one of those Xmas specials that doesn't really benefit from being a Xmas special but it's still fun.

[@MovieMagic515]

I still hate it.

[@marocat4749]

To be fair ithad moments and good start but that with the special before being really good and having meaning, and next being a not very smart spoof in an age of super heriocs. Lucy was annoying in being the worst of lois lane, her calling him the best as nanny is great and cute but else, there int much there. the start,is fun but its just so aimless with no payoff, and even the narnia wr who epoisode had a good emotional payoff, cheesy but emotional. And i loved lois nd clark the series which does have that as comety banter with her being clueless that he is supes. and thre its great use, and balanced, whichmakes me hate the overplaying of cluelessness without te nessear comady of that i think Only works with god comedic chemistry, Even smallville got that right.. And lasr special, it was great funny played, with river, so ,ust why does this story have a superman spoof.

[@Slfriend79]

I love 'The Return Of Doctor Mysterio'. 🥰

[@tenmark7055]

I did rewatch recently, I enjoyed it for the banter. I thought the Doctor discovering Superman's secret identity and Spiderman's powers being cancer and death was a lot of fun. That's what I most enjoy about Doctor Who, the sense of fun and ridiculousness when the Doctor as an alien tries to navigate human society. Secretly, I keep hoping that Mr Huffle shows up on a Tardis console. Doesnt need a reason - would love to see the Doctor just do a double take then ignore it

[@mlp_firewind8129]

I love this episode. Something I like a lot is that the reason the doctor is even in New York is because he’s fixing the damage caused during the angles take Manhattan. It’s a subtle enough detail that it doesn’t detract from the story but is nice from the perspective of a long term fan. Also if you want to go deeper on it, it makes some sense that the doctor would wait this long to address the problem because of how much the loss of the ponds hurt him. With River gone he’s finally comfortable starting to move on.

[@Andres_was_here]

I also love this episode! For me, it has somehow the most "jump the shark" idea in it that in this world of time travel, alien-hunting teams, and secret extraterrestrial inspecting organizations, that there is an ACTUAL SUPERHERO just casually flying around NY fighting bad guys and saving people and I love that!! It's ridiculous (somehow) that I actually genuinely love that idea and this special and would love to see The Ghost return

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

Storing a gun inside your head is really even dumber than that... what if you forgot to put the safety on? Only needs to... slip your mind... just once. :)

[@thefragrantwookiee]

I like when the Doctor tries to guess the special powers Spider-Man gets after being bitten by a radioactive spider: vomiting, hair-loss and death. I genuinely love this episode on every level (but mostly because it's Capaldi at his most charismatic... "I always bring a snack! But I don't want it anymore; he's put me off my dinner").

[@themastersmadface8241]

Easily one of the most underrated episodes. Capaldi's lines and delivery are comedy gold

[@claudiogutierrez2953]

My main complaint is that the name of the episode is inspired in Mexico, yet the story makes no reference to us in anyway; we have superheros, they could've set the story here... Heck, when The Doctor calls himself Doctor Mysterio, he could've said something like: "that's what the call me in Mexico anyway." And I would've been the happiest person. :(

[@mschrisfrank2420]

I thought it was a reference to Mysterio, the Spider-Man rogue.

[@nightowl8477]

@@mschrisfrank2420 - noooo, Peter adored that the show was called Doctor Mysterio in Mexico. Yeah, more of an acknowledgment may have been nice

[@alextaylor3763]

Doctor Místerio is the classics series name in mexico

[@antney7745]

In Husbands of River Song, it wasn't just the one guy with the head-splitty thing, it was *everyone* in the restaurant - they were all part of the Harmony Shoal.

[@CrispyPro]

Still not the biggest fan of this one. But you’re absolutely right about how much pressure we put on it to succeed!

[@MovieMagic515]

Sadly i really dislike it.

[@bongoman9578]

@@MovieMagic515 i really liked it everyone has a different opinion on this ep

[@ianpark1805]

I was surprised by the hate this episode got when it first aired, but I liked it as a fairly light romp through super hero tropes. So my stance was ‘sorry folks, I really enjoyed it, you’ll just have to deal with it’. Glad it wasn’t just me!

[@zinnialynn9757]

This episode was especially fun for me because not only did I grow up on the 90's Lois and Clark TV series, but I have been saying for *years* how I genuinely feel like Superman and The Doctor have a similar place in Modern Mythology? So watching The Doctor side-by-side with a Superman-esque character was an unprecedented treat for my garbled concept-crossover brain.

[@justanotherpat]

I love The Return of Doctor Mysterio! I watched it for the first time this Christmas break, and it had everything I needed to have a good time... Superheroes, silliness, 12th Doctor humour, characters that you get attached to...

[@nostars5919]

This one was the first episode I watched as an actual fan as opposed to Tennant era DVDs, so it'll always have a special place in my heart

[@ZakiAoi]

i felt like the missing season should have been peter and dr song during that year.

[@bgood8299]

I liked this episode. I may be fond of it because I had grown up during the time of the Doctor Who line at Marvel comics and I had become comfortable with the Doctor existing in a multiverse that contained superheroes. Now that I think of it, the X-Men met the crew of the Enterprise once, so I suppose that within the Marvel multiverse, the X-Men, Doctor Who, and Star Trek universes coexist. Now that would be a crossover!

[@tonyjohansson7567]

I totally get you on this. I think that Capaldi's Xmas episodes are the best ones during all of Davie's and Moffat's years. I prefer The last Christmas, but this one is also good. I'm also happy that Chibnal's Holiday Specials are very far from the earlier years. This episode makes me happy.

[@modmaker7617]

I love superheroes from Marvel & DC and spoofs of them don't usually work for me but Return of Doctor Mysterio does.

[@spencerluther6485]

Honestly, we don’t need a reason to defend our personal preferences. The episode is just plain fun for me.

[@DCSMedia]

This was the first story I watched on Broadcast

[@erez87xp]

It’s also a really cute fun episode. I think it’s my favorite special too.

[@SuperYouFox]

I do hold it as a guilty pleasure. I do love it. But I did develop a small problem with it recently. I remember the last time I watched this episode (around November of last year), I thought it would be cool if they did a Graphic Novel based on the Ghost (I had gotten a few of the Jodie Whittaker Doctor Who comics at the time). I looked it up and discovered they had in fact done so with a Doctor Who comic run titled Ghost Stories. The book shows the 12th Doctor meeting back up with Grant, Lucy and a 7 year old (I think?) Jennifer for help dealing with other gemstones across space and time, with them encountering a comic style supervillain in the future, another planet controlled by Harmony Shoal and even an encounter with the Sycorax! While I love the comic, it does bring up one small problem for me; In my interpretation of the ending of Mysterio, Grant was going to stop being the Ghost entirely, with the Doctor reassuring him that things would be fine now that he was back, i.e. the Doctor is going to protect the world and Superman retires. Yet, the start of the comic shows that while Grant has settled down as a husband and a stepfather, he is still acting as a superhero, which kinda puts an asterisk on the ending of Mysterio, which I actually thought was a good ending.

[@toast2465]

I understand the annoyance towards the return of Doctor Mysterio, it’s different and it’s really refreshing for Christmas specials to me, of course I love all of the Doctor who Christmas specials. This one is a very comforting episode to me, especially considering we were still recovering from hell bent and saying goodbye to Clara (or at least I was healing still 😭) the jokes in this episode were amazing though I just absolutely love the part where 8 year old Grant is talking to the doctor about Spider-man and Superman 😂 I really love watching this during the holidays ♥️

[@Venemofthe888]

I remember before coming out that this episode was covered by our UK news like constantly. Doctor who plus comic books was newsworthy for a whole week xD I think its average not great not terrible just middle of the road. Its fun just something to relax to :)

[@kathleenobrien3473]

It's weird, I am not a huge fan of the 12th Doctor but I love his Christmas Specials!

[@menachemsalomon]

As I recall, it's cheesy and corny and makes you roll your eyes, but it's a whole lotta fun. If you like the tone, you love the episode, and probably vice versa. I think the issue with the first few specials was that the Christmas element itself was dangerous (the Santas, the tree, the angels), perhaps trying to subvert the stereotype. Doctor Mysterio, on the other hand, is _exactly_ the stereotype. That not only shifts the tone, it makes for a better story. _Husbands_ is just a sweet, wholesome story, but while some ideas are inverted, they are not subverted. To (mis)quote Linus Torvalds, "Subversion is the most useless project ever." (He was speaking of SVN, a CVS replacement. And if those mean nothing to you, suffice it to say I'm taking him way out of context.)

[@BlueSparxLPs]

As someone who isn't generally a fan of superhero media, I THOUGHT I would hate this episode, and I dreaded it going in; however, it completely blew away my expectations as a somewhat parody, somewhat serious take on the genre. One of my favorite Doctor Who specials for sure, and while on first watch I thought it was just okay, I really love it on rewatches.

[@NATHAN-gl9ns]

I think it'd be fun if a future showrunner did a new theme every special. voyage of the damned and this were fantastic genre homages!

[@JZBelexes]

Voyage of the Damned was actually criticized at the time by the last surviving passenger of the Titanic, saying, "The Titanic was a tragedy which tore so many families apart. I lost my father and he lies on that wreck. I think it is disrespectful to make entertainment of such a tragedy."

[@NATHAN-gl9ns]

@@JZBelexes oh I never knew that. That makes a lot of sense actually, considering the treatment of it there, although I do still enjoy the episode. Let's hope she never saw that Italian titanic movie with the octopus

[@nightowl8477]

I think it's a wonderful story. It's kinda nice that it just embraces the fun of the genre instead if cynically seeking to subvert or critique it, which I'm sure must have been a temptation since I'd consider the Doctor to be a better hero than those who have "Hero" as their branding. It's just fun, and it knows it's fun.

[@brysimm404]

Really liked it too, for the same reasons you covered. Also - this ep works even better if watched together as a companion / follow up to Husbands Of River Song. Great fun and a Capaldi classic :D

[@nightowl8477]

The stuff with Lucy and Grant can get a little sitcom sometimes, the dialogue does bug me. It is interesting to see the Doctor awkwardly shafted into a sitcom _and he knows it,_ but the joke can only go so far.

[@nightowl8477]

_"Some situations are just too stupid to be allowed to continue."_ ~ The Doctor, realising he's in a sitcom and trying to get it cancelled

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

Good theory I heard: The brains infiltrated Unit and messed it up from the inside that's partially why they can't help 13. Connecting two dots.

[@dubbingsync]

The actor who played The Ghost was the guy who played Goku in Dragonball Evolution? Having not seen that movie but remembers the adverts for it and having seen some reviews of it I knew I recognised his face from something but couldn’t make the connection.

[@lwaves]

He was also in the early seasons of the US version of Shameless as Steve/Jimmy and a one-off episode of Lost that I really liked - the one where Locke joins the commune. He's one of those faces that just pops up in various things.

[@werlost]

I didn't care for this episode the first time I saw it but I appreciated the second time. I loved the interaction between young grant and the doctor. The villians were kind of underwhelming compared to the other threats that the doctor has faced.

[@michellegiacalone1079]

I thought it was great. Capaldi is the best Doctor when it comes to comic timing.

[@charlestownsend9280]

What if the brains taking over unit is the real reason why they were shut down during resolution of the daleks and the reason they gave to the doctor was just the cover story, that's my head canon anyway.

[@AlexFyrehartDGAFCave]

Wait a minute.....brains with eyes.....huh, wonder if Moffat had recently watched the First Doctor story The Keys Of Marinus while he was writing this.

[@AlexFyrehartDGAFCave]

Granted the brains with eyes in that story looked like Gary the Snail from Spongebob so these at least look way better.

[@chanceneck8072]

This is currently my #1 all time favorite doctor who episode.... I don't know, what the hell happened, I fucking hated it, when I first watched it. Nowadays, I re-watch it all the fucking time and I ALWAYS enjoy myself.... I've rewatched this more often than Heaven Sent, Akhaten and Hell Bent COMBINED!!!....

[@SpedeVesku]

My big problem with introducing a Superman-esque character in Doctor Who and not depowering them or something at the end is that logically the Earth should never be in danger of a traditional alien invasion ever again. Sure, he retires, but are you seriously telling me that he would just sit down and not do anything the next time Daleks try to exterminate us all?

[@rog2224]

There's no guarantee that there's not also a Cyber-Lethbridge Stewart patrolling out beyond the Oort cloud... Sarah Jane Smith had more technology hanging around than Wakanda... Somethings, only the Doctor can handle.

[@sofioremskoglund8396]

I mean you could see it as a kind of explanation to why the Doctor so rarely visits the US. But over all, while the Ghost might be based on Superman he’s clearly not on the same level and just protecting New York is enough to keep him busy.

[@chriscaygill6331]

11:54. Kinda reminds me of the marge simpson running gag where she stores stuff in her hair

[@ultimatedbz2]

Also I think Doctor Who is some translations actually is El Doctoro Mysterio or something to that effect so that's a cute referance

[@rog2224]

I miss traditional British panto - For Cinderella, you could have up to four men in drag (The Fairy Godmother, The Wicked Stepmother, and The Ugly Step Sisters) in it, and Prince Charming would be played by a girl.

[@maxkehm5080]

I stopped watching Capaldis Run regulary after the first Episode of Season 9. I only returned to it, years later, when Capaldis Run was allready finished but Whittakers hadn´t started yet. So when I got to this Episode, i had no long wait-time inbetween and therefore no big expectations. I watched it, with the same expecations I have for any Christmas Specials: To be entertained for around an Hour, and I was. I think it is one of my personal favorites, because I am also a sucker for all Superhero Things and I like how they make it fit into the mythology of the Show. I enjoyed the Performances of the Cast and I thought Capaldi was great in it. So I had no Reason to complain about it, it was good.

[@jasonatwood7071]

This is my favorite Christmas special.

[@nuttheses9589]

i really like this episode really really enjoyed it at the time

[@nekusakura6748]

Aside from some annoying moments with Nardole, I enjoyed this Episode as well. Justin Chatwin should play Havok in an MCU X Men film imo.

[@chanceneck8072]

I love that you liked it. Because I have to adress the elephant in the room with this episode : NATHANIEL,....... *IS THIS EPISODE SEXIST???* I mean, you're the expert. But I think, some people may think, that it is. Personally, I don't...

[@sbi168]

I think it's good. It sits pretty much right in the middle of specials in terms of how much I like it.

[@pallas9113]

That was a fun episode lmao A completely unrelated thing - the gorgeous tall lady in the new resident evil demo reminds me a little bit of you...? Had my first glimpse of her on jacksepticeye's lp title figure and that reminded me immediately of Nathaniel

[@jimgilliland6502]

Image was great.

[@feigekv]

this was very much a Huffle episode. So clearly a pastiche, it was locked into an airless intertextual space that squeezed panic-stricken dialogue from the characters to fit the form of the piece. It might have worked if a companion piece to the episode days before, and to have the central character dreaming. It was certainly panto...

[@Ben-vf5gk]

@Council of Geeks Am I forgiven yet for making you watch Dr in Distress?

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

Well, if you receive any packages from the US in the near future, better listen closely for any kind of ticking noise...

[@kylejones8289]

I love Doctor in Distress so much. It's terrible, but it's my kind of terrible.

[@UgandanPrinc3]

It’s a fun story for the kiddos, and in general. I think there’s always a chunk of people that consistently don’t like the tone of those stories which is fair.

[@LokiEris]

I like it.

[@deebeedaydreamer]

I don't know about Dragonball Evolution, but I feel like he's still paying penance for his part in War of the Worlds, which is fair.

[@rog2224]

I thought that was H G Wells' fault.

[@jenb7756]

This is an absolutely ridiculous episode but it's fun and sweet without being saccharine

[@Hefferr]

Loved the vid! You are a very pretty geek!!! 😍❤

[@fredfeltz7229]

Got to love some Lois and Clark

[@jonathan.palfrey]

I like this one pretty well, as long as I can suspend my disbelief in everything that's going on. The character interactions are nice, the Doctor's on good form, and the guest stars are good too. The disembodied brains and headsplitting baddies are rather silly, but that's nothing new: I don't usually rate Doctor Who baddies highly.

[@callisto8413]

It was just fun. Nothing wrong with that.

[@standardgrapes]

I enjoy this special

[@k.stewart007]

I absolutely love this eppisode always have done. I'm not even a big comic book or superhero, marvel fan. I just love it. I love capaldi in it hes brilliant as always. I love it doesn't take itself too seriously,but not overly silly. I often wonder if I'm only one who draws comparison to aliens of London and world war 3. I really thought at 1st that's what the story was going for and the doctor would draw comparison himself.. watched, and read several reviews and no one else as ever mention it. I get so satisfied when I notice things and other people who usually notice stuff I don't notice it too. They're faking an alien crash landing, so they they put themselves inside the bodies of world leaders and politicians. They have zips in their heads! The doctor even makes a poop joke to one of them. Is it similar or am just seeing patterns in things that aren't there?

[@chanceneck8072]

It's *FUN!!!*

[@magus104]

Probably right about the wait and drought of content being an issue. Like older american shows running like 24ish episodes a season you could have half a season full of mediocre episodes and you still have a whole Dr Who season worth of good content. As the Who seasons got shorter I found myself getting more annoyed when there would be weak or lame stories because my thought was "really were wasting one of the few precious episodes we have left on THIS?!?" And I think thats a huge probem with Jodis seasons is if they had 24 episode seasons have like 5 or 6 episodes preaching at y ou about recycling or whatever social agenda of the week happens to be. Though when you look at old Star Trek they could make these political episodes and they were actually good vs this ham fisted nonsense. Like Orphan 55 falls apart the second they leave the base to go find this old man who Capaldi would have been like "hes already dead" but we know hes a goner, but we dont realize where he is till we get closer to him? its a lame excuse to get our players our on the surface to see the planet and then the reveal that its earth. could have done that without that whole plot thread

[@scix8794]

Pretty good episode i dont get the hate for it

[@beatriced222]

I HATE this episode but the beginning was great (the part with the doctor and Grant as a kid).

[@vpaulbartilucci8544]

The problem I had with this episode when it first aired and which I continue to have with each rewatch is that it tells the same tired old super-hero jokes that any fan of the genre has already heard. If you're going to tread the same ground trod a hundred times before you better do it really well. But except for the bit with Capaldi realizing that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person, none of it works for me. And that one bit only works because of Capaldi's performance. Look, I'm all for a joyous, silly ride. Heck, I actually like The Doctor, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (gasp). But this ride made me roll my eyes far more often than crack a smile.

[@sofioremskoglund8396]

I think you just described a feeling I also had with it. I do like the episode overall, it’s fun, but sometimes it just feels like Moffat thinks he’s making a clever superhero joke and we’ve just heard it a hundred times before.

[@Stephen-Fox]

I found it... Fine. Nothing wrong with it, but didn't really do much for me either.

[@bookwermofthefandoms]

Love this episode

[@leoburton7702]

I kind of liked this episode

[@paulroach9684]

I shall be watching this for the first time later today. Then I'll watch CoGs review. Will I agree?

[@paulroach9684]

A very rare outing for the Capaldi Doctor for me. Choose it cause there were no terrible companions to annoy me. And CoGs has just reviewed it. A silly, dumb, runaround - which is fine. Can't get into Capaldi as the Doctor, don't know why. Maybe I just haven't watched him enough. Anyway, Nardole was fun. Couple of chuckles. Were the flying effects meant to be bad? Genuine question, I'm not taking the pee. Justin Chatwin was good as Grant. The bad guys were a bit bland. And where's the sense of threat if the Doctor continually puts them down? [But I suppose both versions of the Doctor do that.] So, ok. Nothing to annoy me - nothing to get me that excited. Just average. Now let's see what CoGs thinks.

[@paulroach9684]

Good review - agree with most of it. Stupid question: Was it filmed in New York?

[@jadeslevin9392]

Just wondering, are you going to be covering JK rowlings new article? She writes some horrible terfy stuff and proves she hasn’t changed.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

It would just be a reiteration of what we all knew. So no.

[@lcoyle1998]

Personally, this is possibly the worst episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen. The only competition it even remotely has is Orphan 55...

[@camelopardalis84]

I don't watch Dr. Who. But I like your videos in general and I like Stubagful's videos in general and I like Stubagful's Dr. Who videos, so I guess it'll make sense to check this video out later. Hmmm.

[@lwaves]

Have you considered watching Doctor Who? Or are you just not interested in it? Just curious.

[@camelopardalis84]

@@lwaves It's actually a lack of interest paired with a lack of energy to put in the effort, regardless of how small that effort would actually be. And the sheer amount of episodes kind of overwhelms me. At which point would you recommend I start watching? It's entirely possible that I will check out the show in the next two or three years or so.

[@lwaves]

@@camelopardalis84 That's fair enough, it's not for everyone and I certainly get that not everyone is interested in it. There are plenty of other shows where I feel exactly the same way for the same reasons. There are several jumping on points but I'd suggest starting with the show's return in 2005, the one with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. That's the 'cleanest' start point and it's where the modern show became the big success story. From your point of view, watching classic Who (60's to 80's) would be very overwhelming and it's also a different style of show. So, stick to the modern era if you ever get into it. You can always go back later if it pulls you in. :-)

[@camelopardalis84]

@@lwaves I started watching the original "The Twilight Show", whose earliest episodes premiered in 1959!!! I wanted to see what seemed to be the most "real" incarnation of the show. There, I started with the first episode (I think) and then checked out episodes from "Top 25"/"Top 50" lists. The views from that time on many things like space travel and mental health influenced those episodes in very interesting ways. And I imagine it'd be similar with the early "Dr. Who" episodes. I looked up "Dr. Who" on Wikipedia right after posting my last comment in this thread and noticed that, contrary to what I believed, the show hasn't been ongoing barely uninterrupted since its inception. So there are pretty much only two ways to check out the show: Start at the very beginning or at the beginning of the "modern run", as you suggest. The show is clearly too serialised for it to make sense to not watch the episodes in order, isn't it? From what I can tell now, starting with the first episodes from 2005 (and in order) seems like the best way to go. Thanks for the advice in this vitally important issue!🛢️☎️

[@lwaves]

@@camelopardalis84 Yes, there was that one big gap (with just a TV movie) but other than that it's always been around consistently since 1963. It's part of what makes the show unique - it stays the same show, while constantly changing. Much like the Doctor themselves. The modern starting point will give you more than enough info to grasp the show. Obviously there will be some references etc that you won't get but it's not something that will detract from your (hopeful) enjoyment. There's nothing that's tied to major plot points that they don't tell you. Even as someone who's never watched an episode, I'd bet you know some basic stuff already. I love The Twilight Zone, especially the original version. It was so brilliantly written and it's stories still get repeated to this day.

[@jamiestevens3074]

My review for the episode: 🧀

[@kierenevans2521]

It's really dumb but I like it.

[@Ben-vf5gk]

Honestly I don't even love superheroes and I think this is one of the best Christmas specials

[@chrisrusso6541]

I really like this episode but I didn't like the bad people opening their heads I found it too gross but other than that I love this episode and I love the cutesy humor and wish they did it more but I love this episode so much that I wanted to show it to my brother who is a superhero fan and who loves the Dragon ball live action movie I love that too by the way but he is not a doctor who fan and I am I have to show this episode to him some day and the brain in the jar classic doctor who did that in the first Doctor story the keys of marines it was in the second part of that story and I'm sure many people have done it too but the brains in the jar in the keys of marines also had eyes anyway thank you

[@obiwankenobi5845]

So you dislike some of the Christmas specials because of the campy ness but you like this one because of the campyness I would disagree with you but I hate cheese but I like it on pizza so who am I to talk

[@herbivarsawus4359]

Wow you managed not to mention third wave feminism - something Moffatt finally got right here!

[@jamiestevens3074]

I think this is the most viewed doctor who episode in America. I remember hearing that somewhere.

[@jayanderson9375]

That seems unlikely....

[@PhantomObserver]

My expectation? I could tell from the title that the ep *wasn’t* written by a comic book reader. I mean, was anyone else expecting Doc to wind up with a disco ball on his head? A comic book reader wouldn’t’ve come up with that title. This was more a take on super hero movies, rather than comic books. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad, but I think the angle of the humour could’ve been different.

[@sofioremskoglund8396]

The title was apparently inspired by the fact that Doctor Who is called Doctor Mysterio. But yeah, it feels a little like Moffats superhero knowledge starts and stops with Superman 78.

[@Luke-fu5co]

I really dont like this episode at all, there's no one thing in particular that makes me dislike it, i guess its just the whole concept of superheroes existing in the doctor who universe? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@dickottel]

I didn't like it, probably never rewatched it, I just don't like superheroes and hetero love story written that way