Series 13 Flux Chapter 1 The Halloween Apocalypse review

On the night that the clocks went back Doctor Who made a welcome return to BBC1 screens. Personally, I’ve always preferred the series in the autumn as part of the new season of entertainment from the BBC. There’s a level of winter cosiness that suits watching Doctor Who. The BBC took its time to promote this series with trailers only a week or two before a created mystery around “the Flux “.

Even so, I sat down with a bubbling sense of excitement that we have a new Doctor Who to review. Series 13 is billed as one long story arc so the opening episode or chapter was The Halloween Apocalypse a damp squib or a sky sparkling banger? Let’s get into it.

An arcing one story series probably plays to Chris Chibnall’s strengths if one considers his first and the best series of Broadchurch which took place in one town. As a central idea, one 6 part story is promising and reminded me of classic Who, the Key to Time series or the Trial of a Timelord which clearly laid out in the first episode the reasons the Doctor was there. The Halloween Apocalypse however didn’t rein itself into that respect to some detriment to the story.

Once past the preamble of the pre-credits frolics with some dodgy looking CGI it quickly became a taster menu of locations. HUGE fonts came back to explain to the breathless audience all the jumps in time and space as we were whisked to 1820’s Liverpool, modern-day Liverpool, the Arctic Circle, a future prison, a solitary space outpost and met some of the recurring monsters Sontarans and Weeping Angels. The story felt slightly clunky and overloaded for the first chapter. It reminded me of my initial dislike when I first tried to watch Game of Thrones years ago. Lots of unconnected characters that I found hard to care for. I understand the effect Chibnall was probably going for, giving out bits of a puzzle to come together later but sometimes less is more. He could have left the Regency scenes with Williamson and the couple in the Arctic Circle comfortably out of this episode and expanded more on the origins of Swarm, played by Sam Spruell and his sister Azure, played by Rochenda Sandall.

When the plot stayed in one place long enough for some of the characters to breathe it was quite fun. Annabel Scholey as Claire and Jacob Anderson as Vinder, (he reminded me in appearance and character of Rimmer from Red Dwarf for some reason) both conveyed strongly through their performances with a relatively small amount of dialogue so I’ll be pleased if they appear again later. The whole sub-plot of introducing new companion Dan, the proud Scouser down on his luck financially has potential. Played by John Bishop there’s a refreshing vulnerability to him tentatively agreeing to a date with Diane. I loved his kindness to other people and down to earth nature.

Chris Chibnall was brought up in Merseyside which explains maybe why Dan’s dialogue feels so comfortably authentic. Is John Bishop playing himself? Who knows, who cares but I like Dan already. The guy’s house has been miniaturised and he’s calmer than I would be. When Dan said he had a friend with a Tardis my ears pricked up ( is this important or a throwaway line? ) as he had a lack of starry-eyed wonder at the Tardis. Dan’s more laid back than the lovable Graham and the older man type works in this era somehow adding a balance of two females in the Tardis now. He seems a more comfortable fit with Yaz than Ryan ever was after one episode with the regional rivalry banter between them.

Dan’s banter with Karvanista, played by Craige Els brought a light touch to his predicament and reminded me of the easy serious and comic balance woven into the Russell T Davies era. It was quite funny in-joke, to be honest, that the Lupari were bonded to humans. At first glance Karvanista looks silly, just a big man in a furry dog suit with a northern accent, no revise that it is ridiculous but Doctor Who has a history of er “quirky” costume standards but Craige Els imbues he/ it with a gruff charm that becomes likeable and just hilarious to consider. Karvanista just screams campy Christmas merch. Anyone?

Having a title called the Halloween Apocalypse I was expecting lots of spooky pandemonium in the streets in Liverpool but it was a little tenuous. I suppose given the time of transmission they couldn’t scare the children too much but the title promised more than it delivered. As the main threat, the Flux was kept away from Earth so I did feel an opportunity was missed to create an emotional impact for the viewer about the destruction of our everyday world. Jamie Magnus Stone is back directing however after a great job in series 12 so there were some other genuine moments of dread in the episode. The sudden direct look to the camera “trick or treat” to the Doctor. the solitary weeping angel stalking Claire although the sequence was slightly drawn out deliberately ratching up the tension. It will be interesting to see what Chibnall does with them in episode 4.

The scene with Diane waiting for Dan was also spookily current (which woman hasn’t waited on her own on a dark night at some point) and then the voice drew Diane into the house. I wonder “what fun” Azure has in mind for Diane. A little disturbing to be fair with the additional imagery of Diane wading in water. I really liked the haunting skeletal look of Azure and Swarm. Swarm’s ability to disrupt atoms by touch to destroy people and then renew his appearance is an intriguing development. Creating new menacing monsters is a challenge especially when you are unclear of their motivation yet but I’m prepared to see how this alien villain knows the Doctor and whether it is connected with the Time Lord division history?

Finding out that Series 13 was going to be one general story did make me wonder if this was something always in the five-year Chibnall plan or circumstances that denote the last throw of the dice for Jodie Whittaker’s era. Jo Martin’s intense performance as the Doctor in “Fugitive” outshone Jodie Whittaker so much last series where I was waving my banner in support as I would want to see a fierce woman in the role. It’s not been the strongest era for me in terms of the writing for the Doctor from Chris Chibnall so this series needs to bring something fresh before he leaves. The timeless child revelations of series 12 had left me with some anxiety about where Doctor Who was going to go next with Chibnall on the newly imagined rewriting of the main character’s history. Karvanista as a secret division operative hired by the Timelords is surprising but I hope any Timeless Child subplot is dealt with and bedded quickly and doesn’t overshadow the main Flux story.

Starting this series with Jodie Whittaker using her school ma’am voice telling Karvanista off for trapping them wasn’t my favourite moment. Despite the comedy, it fell flat. Jodie Whittaker, although she has energy in the role just lacks a firm screen presence at times as the Doctor. Thankfully as the situation worsened the 13th’s general kookiness fell back and the more serious thoughtful Doctor came out. I’ve realised that whereas the other Doctors would eventually open up about their worries to their companions this Doctor will always hold back so I rather enjoyed an exasperated 13th Doctor pricking Yaz’s concerns about what they are doing following Karvanista.

It’s possible to see further scope for exploring Yaz’ rather possessive nature about this Doctor, especially with a new unfazed companion like Dan on board the Tardis. Yaz is understandably coming more to the fore without a crowded Tardis now but I still found a slightly bland quality to her as a companion in this episode. Who is Yaz? I wish there had been more emphasis on her using her police skills when they were investigating Dan’s house. I haven’t seen a consistent transition of her as the policewoman she was at the beginning of encountering the Doctor to who she is meant to be after two series.

In conclusion a rather frenzied first episode, all over the place without needing to be, but with enough good bits for me to want to come back next week. Dan looks like he will be a calming and curious companion. It’s an ambitious project to have one story all series and continue to take everyone with you every week. Flux: Chapter One: The Halloween Apocalypse had an Audience Appreciation Index score of 76. I hope Chris Chibnall can pull off Flux so we don’t write off this series as unlucky 13. Chapter 2 featuring the Sontarans is an opportunity for a more focused episode which hopefully will bring some of our arch threads closer together A new old design to enjoy and good to see a more ferocious cunning from those classic monsters. Bring it on!

7.5 out of 10

What did you enjoy most about the Halloween Apocalypse? Post your comments on here, The Big Blue Box Discord Server or on Twitter. Let’s talk!