the haunting of villa diodati review
He has fused with the cyberium and is now guarding it against the Cyberman. There is humour to be found here as well in Lord Byron’s sleazy flirting with 13 and Claire Clairmont, both of whom put him in his place. In this episode we meet the Shelley’s and their friends at a villa where Mary Shelley famously came up with Frankenstein. When things take a (mostly) unexpected turn in the third act, several narrative threads get hand-waved away to make room for new developments and the overall story can’t help but feel a little disjointed as a result. With an intriguing premise and a promising cast of characters, it’s a shame Haunting of Villa Diodati threw all that aside and get distracted by a Cyberman… We’ve even watched them hijack the dead. If there’s one part of the story that doesn’t quite ring true, it’s the Doctor’s handwringing insistence that the no-win scenario she’s faced with somehow her own creation and, therefore, her responsibility. The music used when the lone Cyberman is revealed was incredibly scary and really helped to sell the terror of that moment. Instead this starts off a chain of events that we see happen in the future. In Review: Doctor Who – The Haunting of Villa Diodati. This review contains spoilers after the squirrel. I'm a writer on the autistic spectrum who loves sci-fi, cosplay and poetry. Knowing I was to review the eighth episode of Doctor Who Series 12, The Haunting of Villa Diodati, I’d done some preparation. As a result, we’ve had a 500ft tall Cyberking mech stomping around in Victorian London. Well, you certainly can't complain about a lack of atmosphere. Chris Chibnall (and Captain Jack) had already assured us that the Doctor’s age-old foe would be returning this year, so while Ashad initially manifesting as a luminous, vaguely humanoid figure is a nice call-back, how he looks means it’s hard not to be suspicious that the ghost is really a Cyberman the first time we lay eyes on it. That’s where The Haunting of Villa Diodati kicks off, with them turning up on the doorstep of the eponymous Swiss mansion where Mary … In Review: Big Finish: Doctor Who: Shadow of the Daleks 1, In Review: The Dreaming: Waking Hours (2020-) #3, Star Trek Discovery: The Burn – The Burning Question, In Review: Lovecraft Country (S1 – Ep 9) – Rewind 1921, In Review: Stranger Things: Into the Fire #2, Liz Braswell talks about her career, writing dark Disney stories, and “Straight On Till Morning”, Samuel L Jackson Up For a Nick Fury Series on Disney +, 5 Actors We would like to play Revan in a Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic film. Instead, the episode handles its literary allusions with a light touch. Was it that good though? I also really liked how the unusual weather conditions of 1816 were explained as the work of the Cyberium. 12.8 The Haunting Of Villa Diodati. Then again, if there was ever going to be an episode where Chibnall and co. could make a Cyberman thematically appropriate, it would be Cyberwom—er, this story: the night that gives birth to Frankenstein. Better yet, each of the companions gets something to do this week as they split up to investigate the creepy goings-on, although several of Byron’s guests might as well be mobile scenery given how little we learn about them and how much they actually affect the plot in any way. The Doctor and her friends visit Lord Byron’s manor on the night that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein but it soon becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Change ). Nebulously described both as a nanomachine cloud, a database, a power source and an AI, the Cyberium is supposedly the difference between the Cybermen being triumphant universal conquerors or driven to extinction. Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site. This article comes from Den of Geek UK and contains spoilers. It remains to be seen if this is the Doctor or if it is possibly the Master as the rumours have been suggesting. Happily, this week’s script is easily deft enough to support such a famously witty cast of guest characters. I loved the structure of this episode and how like last week the story and information was gradually revealed and the tension built up into a world shaking climax. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out / ( Log Out / He is after the cyberium which is being protected by Percy Shelley who turns out to be the spectre we’ve been seeing around the house. Most years sinceDoctor Who returned in 2005 have seen an episode that delves gleefully into something supernatural, even if it does usually turn out to be aliens in the end. I really enjoyed Jacob Collins-Levy’s flirting with the 13th Doctor as Lord Byron, and I thought he played and subverted the role of alpha male nicely when he hid behind Mary Shelley. I loved how we could partially see the man he used to be and the rage and evil on the actor’s face which complemented the Cyberman prosthetics brilliantly. It reinstated the horror of what a Cyberman is in your head – a body trapped inside a metal case with no emotion and no feeling. Mikey Heinrich reviews 'The Haunting of Villa Diodati', an episode of 'Doctor Who.' Be that as it may, Ashad is still pretty overpowered by Cyberman standards – strong enough to reach the Cyberium, which is the utterly bonkers plot device responsible for all of tonight’s supernatural happenings (well, apart from Graham’s sandwich) as it sought to protect itself. The house itself conspires to separate the characters from each other reminiscent of The Chimes of Midnight, and the Doctor works out that Villa Diodati has been placed under a perception filter. Villa Diodati, 1816 - on a night that inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. read more: Doctor Who – Who is the Timeless Child? We learn very little about how he came to be in his half-formed state, but Ashad presents us with an intimidating villain nonetheless, combining the intimidating physical bulk of a stompy cyborg with the stubborn single-mindedness of a desperate survivor. The core story itself has little time for them because it’s too busy bombarding us with pretty much kind of scary moment you can think of, from figures appearing in flashes of lightning to vases hurtling across the room, and there’s a missing person mystery on top of it all. Spoilers ahead in our review. This is revealed to be Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom the lone Cyberman confronts and demands possession of the Cyberium, that Shelley was infected with which will enable the lone Cyberman to rebuild the Cyber armies and lay waste to planet Earth. with the promise of “doing Frankenstein”. I was quite excited for this episode. Fair warning: I … I really enjoyed the effects of the Cyberman walking through the library at night and the CGI of the white shape on the lake which was revealed to be the lone Cyberman. It is 1816, set on the night Mary Shelley came up with the idea for Frankenstein. It was interesting to see a Cyberman that had human looks but with no humanity about him. He’s a soldier, a fanatic, and a very different take on a normally stoic species. Directed by Emma Sullivan. The Haunting of Villa Diodati is an episode of extremes.. On one extreme, it’s a genuinely well-constructed piece of television that is both a triumph of production and which offers a genuinely novel approach to a familiar and iconic Doctor Who villain. I loved how most of the episode was in near darkness and the CGI of the lone Cyberman was absolutely stunning. by Mikey Heinrich 'You irritate me!' Also of note was the CGI used when Polidori walked through the wall, which I thought heightened the tension and put me in mind of a Sylvester McCoy episode, being weird and terrifying even by Doctor Who standards. There was a lovely sweet theme used when the Doctor found Mary Shelley’s baby William which I thought worked really well against the backdrop of terror and death. I also really liked how tense the score that played when the 13th Doctor gave her companions the option to leave her was and there was a beautiful melancholy score at the very end of the episode when Byron read his poem about the Doctor. As mentioned, the first third of “The Haunting of Villa Diodati” revels in throwing every ghostly trope imaginable up on screen, although some of these work better than others. I'm also an actor with Theatre of the Senses. I particularly liked his fake posh accent when Graham complained about coach drivers at the beginning of the episode. .cls-2{mix-blend-mode:screen}.cls-3{fill:none;stroke:red;stroke-miterlimit:10;stroke-width:4px}.cls-4{fill:red}, Team TARDIS confronts spectres, spirits and sandwiches in a high-class Haunted House. The dialogue shines a lot of the time, Byron’s sleazy but without being too unlikeable, and there are a couple of laugh-out-loud jokes – Fletcher the valet is a particular delight. The Doctor and friends ended last week’s Can You Hear Me? 25 year old media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. ... to separate the characters from each other reminiscent of The Chimes of Midnight, and the Doctor works out that Villa Diodati has been placed under a perception filter. Copyright 2013 Trending news Theme.Powered by Wordpress. The idea that glowing, spectral figures might actually be Cybermen forcing their way into our reality is familiar, but then it should be – we’ve seen it before, way back in Series Two’s “Army of Ghosts.”. I’d reminded myself of the story of how Mary Shelley came to write Frankenstein; Or, A Modern Prometheus; I’d thought about a clever introduction and a nod to Deep Purple. I was quite excited for this episode. View all posts by shonaharding. The plan was to spend the evening in the presence of literary greats - but the ghosts are all too real. The score that played when the characters first begin to discover that the house is not what it seemed was so creepy and put me in mind of The Chimes of Midnight. The incidental music was brilliant in this episode. Doctor Who: The Haunting of Villa Diodati. It’s the spooky one!
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