Doctor Who The Rebel Flesh (2005– ) watch online HD

There is a literary term, "Catharsis" which refers to the sense of relief you get after a great work of literature. When I was a literature major, we were taught it applied only to great tragedy, but I always felt this was wrong. After all, unless you expect to kill your father, sleep with your mother, become King of Thebes and pluck out your own eyes, there's little emotional connection to Oedipus except perhaps for congratulating yourself for not doing all four of those things, or even three of them.

No, catharsis can arise as a sense of relief or laughter: the punchline of a good joke, the happiness when the boy gets the girl and things are sorted out or in a serial, when they get out of the cliffhanger in one piece, Whew! Never thought they'd manage that. Happily, Steven Moffat understands that -- even though he is not above a certain amount of cruelty to his audience. Well, that tingling anticipation of escape from some terrible fate, simultaneously inevitable -- of course the Doctor and his companions will escape -- and impossible, is quite wonderful. Be as cruel as you like, Steven.

This episode, although it attempts to handle the sort of symbolic question that Doctor Who tackles -- mostly about the existence of a soul and what a human being really is -- is simultaneously too overt in its considerations and too distracted. We have a factory when dangerous acid is present, so the workers create temporary androids, called 'doppelgangers' or 'gangers' who begin to develop personalities -- the personalities of their operators. Are they people, or echoes? At the same time, there is the distraction of Gothic visual elements like a ruined monastery on an isolated island and a terrible storm raging outside -- a Frankenstein/Otranto scenario that repeats the details of the books and the movies, instead of recasting them in different terms. It's lazy, and only some careful work by the visual technicians make it acceptable -- there's a zoom shot of the castle early on that is brilliant, but there are so many Dutch Angle shots that they become rather commonplace.

I do enjoy the exposition of Rory Williams' character in this one. Matt Smith's Doctor is brilliantly alien. Amy Pond is an adrenaline junkie who is perpetually astonished when she discovers that, yes, jumping off the roof is not a good idea -- I've known people like that and they make me wince. No, the character I identify with is Rory: he's smart, he understands the risks, he knows he can't do these things, but he tries to do the right thing. He's very funny. Those are all important, but none of the writing in Doctor Who is two-dimensional. Rory wants to be brilliant and admired and in this one, he is seduced into helping out the ambiguously evil gangers because they admire him.

Matthew Graham, this episode's writer, also wrote the heavy-handed "Fear Her" for the Tenth Doctor. The cliffhanger that ends this, the first part of a two-parter is well foreshadowed, perhaps too much so. Structurally it resembles last season's HUNGRY EARTH/COLD BLOOD story, with the same call for tolerance. Still, the entire piece works, in no small part, I feel, because the flashy camera-work (lots of moving shots and strongly framed composition), excellent actors and some strong direction by Julian Simpson make what could have been overwrought into something that, if not great, is still pretty good.

Now if I can only hold out for the cliffhanger's resolution!

The Doctor, Amy and Rory travel to Earth in the 22nd century after being struck by a solar flair. They land by a factory, where a small crew are extracting acid out of the ground. Their method for extraction is to use dopplegangers (Gangers.) Creatures created in their own likeness and made out of a plastic substance, called the Flesh. Trouble is another solar flair strikes and causes mayhem, acid pipes burst and it floods everywhere, but worse the gangers become permanent, two sets of the same person, with all the memories, feelings and consciousness.

It's really well acted, it looks really good, I don't know why but I've never really liked this story, same as I can't define why I don't like The Sunmakers from the classic series. It's not bad but I just don't get into it. Partly perhaps because I'm not getting a bit fed up with Amy's character, I get that she's excitable and feisty, but I think Rory's character is overshadowing her. I like the questions posed by the gangers, Jennifer with Rory especially. We all knew that cliffhanger was coming didn't we. 6/10

I never quite understood the animosity towards "Fear Her" the 2006 entry in Doctor Who universe. I mention this because tonight's latest entry the darkly titled "The Rebel Flesh" a fairly tightly scripted episode is penned by Matthew Graham who was behind the latter story. An opening to the second two parter of the current series it has much of the positive attributes that for me made FH enjoyable. While not exactly breaking new ground it is one of the few episodes which actually has that old classic feel of the original series.

The basic premise is straight forward enough. The Doctor Amy and Rory arrive on another planet outside a factory in Earth's future were a small skeleton crew of humans are able to clone themselves using a innovative fleshy chemical substance. Christening these doppelgängers as 'Gangers' they for-fill tasks deemed two dangerous for humans to carry out. When a wave of solar flares (which is what brought the TARDIS crew to the planet in the first place) leads to the Gangers becoming sentient and recalling real memories of their benefactors. A small all out war eventually erupts with the Doctor and his companions caught in the middle and the Time Lord attempting to play mediator.

Mostly evenly paced, emotional with a wonderfully creepy and almost classic Hammer Horror feel which was occasionally the bench mark for some of the old series stories (Think the Brain of Morbius), "The Rebel Flesh" is guilty of hi-jacking old concepts and arguably time worn plot devices but Graham at least manages to exploit these elements with some panache and verve. As where "The Next Doctor" and "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" capitalised on the themes of identity and what makes us who we are Graham does the same and largely comes up trumps. Imagine coming face to face with another version of yourself who is not quite human and brimming of all your emotions and all of your darkest and deepest memories. Imagine how unnerving that might be and it is established and executed with equal measures of poignancy and the macabre. But is it are memories that make us real and who we are, are we more the sum of our memories? Philosophy too has also at times been a key point to not only "Doctor Who" but in science fiction and in this respect recalling the works of Phillip K. Dicks and Anthony Burgesses this is what Graham accomplishes pretty successfully. It would be easy, nay obtuse to label the show a family friendly series that shouldn't dabble in this heavy subject matter. It's still weighed by decent if less than innovative antagonists(even though who the real one's are become's fairly blurred) have just enough energy and fear factor to appeal to a wide mainstream audience which includes the little ones. Graham also deftly handles the ultimately well intentioned nature and the ideology of the Doctor who here I believe is the most earnest we have seen him thus far this series. And that is also in the entirety of the episode. The is an aura of futility that permeates the story and this is underpinned by Matt Smith who although his incarnation of the Doctor once again tries to play self appointed mediator between to the two camps that have formed. Smith is beautifully understated and gives one of his best performances thus far. Karen Gillan again continues to be a presence that is beginning to become unnecessary in that Amy is given more exposure than she seemingly deserves. I much prefer Arthur Darvil who to my mind is not only more relatable but likable and continues to outshine Gillan at every turn. It would be a cinch to lumber the blame on some of the empty handed way her character has been developed. And while that is true I can't just totally accept that. She is really a emotionally sterile actress with very little in the way of range. Blank expressions seem to be what she constitutes as emotion half the time.

The rest of the supporting cast which include Marshal Lancaster of "Life on Mars" fame and Sarah Smart are reliably solid and effortlessly manage to bridge and command their roles as both humans and Gangers with admirable aplomb. And the production values given the budget cuts are fairly high given the circumstances. The cold darkness of the environment helps to enhance the unsettling and claustrophobic nature of the protagonists and antagonists plight. Where everything is let down is that while the pace is mainly even that I feel it does sag a tad in the middle while there is still as I already mentioned a slight air of de-ja-vu which has been something of a slight trend in the current series. Some might quibble that good or bad that the Gangers in their more "alien" manifestations are almost clones of Lord Voldermort from the Harry Potter movies. Less than inventive make-up design? Could very well be but never the less it's first rate prosthetics none the less. And while the cliff-hanger is effective enough I couldn't help but feel under-awed or thrilled by it. Actually it has an air of predictability, Never the less TRF is still when measured next to "The Doctor's Wife" a worthy entry in the Whoniverse and a fine homage to the bygone days of the Hinchcliffe era of DW. With a tantalising trailer that promises that events may take even darker turns I still look forward to witness how everything will finally be resolved.

DOCTOR WHO is probably most famous for the show that " caused millions of children to scurry behind the sofa " . Truth be told this isn't how the show originally started off . It wasn't until the Troughton era that the show developed in to horror lite for a family audience and it is interesting that the most highly regarded eras of the show such as the Pertwee and early Tom Baker stories went out of their way to terrify the young audience . The Rebel Flesh continues this noble and legendary tradition

The story takes place on another planet which is something NuWho doesn't do often enough but truth be told it's an episode with an irritating mix of good and bad . The bad is that the supporting characters are very bland and in order to make them more interesting they speak with regional British accents . The show is trying to capture an international audience but insists on accents that will be implausible for anyone outside of the British Isles . Did I mention they were bland . The characters also seem interchangeable in their blandness . Old school DOCTOR WHO would have developed them more making them idiosycrantic characters in their own right

Their also seems to be a problem with story structure . Someone ha mentioned that perhaps there has been too much foreshadowing . The plot involves the concept of cloning in which the clones are known as " Gangers " short for dopplegangers . This is revealed far too quickly and one wonders if this would have worked far better as a one part story and one can't help worrying if the next episode has any place to go . There's also unexplained bits such as why the humans are mining acid on another planet . Is there any explanation for this apart to set up a story ? the more you think about it the more things start to fall apart . Of course things might be explained in the concluding episode but that means the opening episode will become disposable . The aspect of cloning also perhaps foreshadows how the season will conclude . You know what I'm saying . " That scene " in The Impossible Astronaut will tie in with a cloned Doctor

Not to be totally negative it's always good to see a " base under siege " type episode because they're traditional and entertaining , much better than the mind bending confused emperors new clothes type plots that we've had over the last couple of seasons under Moffat . Director Julian Simpson does try and inject atmosphere in to the proceedings and having a story set in an alien abbey is no bad thing because an audience has seen industrial space base settings a little too often in Sci-Fi media . Perhaps the best aspect is that Rory is given something to do . Certainly Arthur Darvill is a fairly impressive actor when he's given the material to work with and hopefully he won't remain underused as he has been for much of the season

In conclusion The Rebel Flesh is a good enough entertaining story . It's certainly better than much of the stuff we've seen in seasons five and six of NuWho but small aspects are stopping it from being an out and out classic . Despite liking it I did see The Impossible Planet from season two the same day and that was one of the most effectively frightening shock fests ever produced in the history of television where as with hindsight this episode is slightly lacking .

After last week's excellent episode from the pen of Neil Gaiman I feared this week's episode might be a bit of a let down; thankfully I was wrong; it managed to be creepy, exciting and rather emotional. When a solar tsunami strikes the Tardis in land on an island in Earth's future; here acid is extracted by an unusual group of miners. They are unusual in that they don't do the work directly as it is too dangerous; they use what are essentially clones made from a mysterious substance known as The Flesh which they then control. Their clones, known as Gangers, have no will of their own so it doesn't matter if they get destroyed by the acid... that is until the solar tsunami causes a power surge that brings them to life. The Gangers now have all the memories of their erstwhile controllers and they want to continue living. Their controls however don't consider them real so are keen to see them eliminated; especially the senior controller.

I really enjoyed this episode; largely because the Gangers were potentially dangerous but also far more sympathetic characters than their human counterparts. It was fun seeing Rory being the hero trying to save Jennifer; especially as Amy appeared to be more than a little jealous. His reaction when he learnt that she was actually a Ganger helped demonstrate how much of a sympathetic character he is. The ending of the episode gave us a good cliff-hanger which gave the viewer a nice surprise and set things up for the next part of the story. The dark setting and the somewhat creepy appearance of the Gangers when they can't fully hold their human form added to the effect of the episode but my scare children of a nervous disposition.

This is the first part of a two part story and it ends with a strong cliffhanger. The episode overall is not hugely exciting or outstanding but it is a decent standard story with some very good aspects. The make up effects are very good and the 'gangers' are creepy. They do turn out, as is often the case, to not be as evil or one dimensional as it first may appear. This is a double edged sword as on one hand it lessens the threat and menace of potential villains but on the other hand it adds depth and a thoughtful aspect about what makes us who we are. If this episode was followed by a second part that took the build up to a higher level with a perfectly judged climax then this story would stand up alongside great, fun stories of the past but this episode is not entirely effective in the build up and the second part, in my opinion, is not as good as this one so it ends up a bit flat and disappointing.

Taken on its own there are no major problems with this episode and it has some nice gothic horror aspects harking back to the classics stories of years gone by but this potential for a scary horror episode do not come fully to fruition. One or two characters, one or two plot elements and one or two bits of dialogue feel a bit underwhelming in some ways compared to how thrilling they could have been. Occasionally I feel it is not fully thought through. However, it is still solid and pretty enjoyable so I rate this part as 7.5/10.